Melania's Rose Garden Redo Is Turning Heads

Melania Trump's redesign of the White House Rose Garden is making headlines—and not all for the better, Vox reports. The First Lady has torn out crabapple trees and vibrant tulips dating back to the Kennedy era for a more sedate color palette of white and pastel roses. She also introduced paved walkways along with under-the-radar fixes like better drainage, disability access, and media-friendly technical improvements, per the AP. But the less colorful design and vanquished trees inspired a wave of outrage on Twitter, where the Independent reports that users accused Trump of "removing Jackie O's rose garden" and constructing "a cemetery."

Key to the redesign are tech upgrades that make it easier for broadcasting. President Trump has been giving Rose Garden press conferences and Melania plans to make her Tuesday address to the Republican National Convention from there. Her speech will violate federal rules against using the White House for political functions, though other administrations have also flirted with those rules. Meanwhile, Politico reports that a House committee is asking whether President Trump will be breaking the law by having government workers help in his RNC speech from the White House. For nature lovers, good news: The crabapple trees Melania had removed will be replanted somewhere else on the White House grounds. (More White House stories.)