The Dirt on a Rosy White House Plot

The roses are blooming again in the White House Rose Garden, a tribute to former first lady Edith Wilson, who renovated former first lady Edith Roosevelt's garden off the Oval Office into the Rose Garden. "There's no garden that compares to the White House garden. History was made there," says Richard Kurin, the Smithsonian Institution's acting under secretary. Now he and the White House Historical Association want to bring the White House gardens to the nation. The two organizations have assembled a huge traveling display set to visit up to 20 cities over the next four years. The history is a rich one. Teddy Roosevelt destroyed the elaborate rooftop greenhouses of previous presidents when he restored the White House. And Bill Clinton, famous for allergies, planted the most memorial trees—five, one more than George H.W. Bush.