Jacqueline Kennedy Garden

The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden is located at the White House south of the East Colonnade. The garden balances the Rose Garden on the west side of the White House Complex.

History

Edith Carrow Roosevelt who had established her "Colonial Garden" on the site of the present Rose Garden oversaw a similar but less formal planting on the east side, the site of the present Jacqueline Kennedy Garden. The garden as it is presently known was begun in 913 by First Lady Ellen Louise Axson Wilson. She termed it the East Garden. Mrs. Wilson's design featured a central lily pond. Following her death in 914, the garden was completed(36 meters by 19 meters)

Care of the White House grounds had greatly declined by the time of the Kennedy administration, prompting First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to work with Rachel Lambert Mellon and Perry Wheeler on the redesign and replanting of the Rose Garden and East Garden. By the time of President Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Rose Garden had been completed and work on the East Garden was in progress. To honor Jacqueline Kennedy's contributions to the White House and its grounds First Lady "Lady Bird" Johnson renamed the East Garden as the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden.

Design and horticulture

Rachel Lambert Mellon created a space with a more defined central lawn, bordered by flower beds planted in a French style, but largely using American botanical specimens. Though more formal than the previous East Garden, the Jacqueline Kennedy...
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