First, this post about the redesign of the Rose Garden during the previous administration is not political – I promise. I’ve already supported the Rose Garden upgrade and called the petition to “restore” it “pointless and inaccuracy-laden.” Now I hope we can see the humor in it.
The Tweet
I follow my favorite political thinkers on Twitter and one of them retweeted the post above by someone – an Angela Belcamino, whose bio includes “actor” and “sometimes dance.” The Tweet asks “Who else hopes Dr. Jill Biden restores the Rose Garden to it’s former glory?” To which my favorite of the many, many replies is:
Nobody can restore anything to “it’s” former or any other glory. “It’s” is a contraction for “it is.” I’m very disappointed that I have to explain this.
Which makes me feel less alone in homing right in on the misplaced apostrophe. (Note also it’s HOMING, not honing – another mistake I seem to look for. Think of pigeons homing in, while skills are honed. And now I’m hating myself for being a grammar nag.)
Moving on, the comments can be (somewhat fairly) summarized as:
This Isn’t Important!
MOST replies took this position, sensibly. Fer crissakes, yes! My favorite one was “This is not a hill to die on. I think Jill will take a pass,” while many mentioned her actual responsibilities, starting with teaching full-time.
Agreement with Hints of Misinformation
LOTS of replies piled on the hate for everything ever touched by Melania Trump, with a few commenting on actual plants.
- “Yes, it would be nice to have roses again in the Rose Garden.” (They’re not gone!)
- “I think a garden of native species would be really nice instead. The Rose Garden chapter is over and it’s time to look ahead.” (I’m sorry; which native plants are you suggesting for that particular formal spot? Generalizations like that make me crazy!)
- “I think every state should send their very best rose bush to the White House and children born here from immigrant families should plant them.” (Wut????)
The Unexpected Celebrity
Chrissy Teigen says she’ll volunteer to help Dr. Biden restore the rose garden.
Pointing out the Sexism
- “Why is the garden a job for the ‘Wife’? She’s a bad-ass. Let’s hope she has bigger things to attend to.”
- “Why her? Don’t they have curators, horticulturists, grounds keepers who can restore the historical gardens?” They sure do!
- “She’s not some bored housewife. Can’t literally anyone employed at the White House restore the Rose Garden? I’d like to see Joe in there switching out bushes.” I bet we can all agree that we’d rather see the president, any president, tackle bigger issues. But we take their point about gendered roles.
Making me Laugh
- “Why hasn’t anyone called Four Seasons Total Landscaping to do it? Bet they would do it for free.”
- “Yes, Melanoma ruined it for me. It looks like some weird greyish college commons now. May as well have a bronze lion or a fountain or something. Ugh. It’s drab. Let’s face it…Her taste is in question seeing who her hubby is.” (I’ll admit it – I laughed at “Melanoma.”)
- Several GIFs and photos:
Your best yet!!
I love how you honed in on this topic. Oh, wait. Crap. Did I just do that?
Are we looking to make it homey, honey?
Can you imagine the screeching if it were most typical visions of an all-Native garden? Oh, its so ratty. Wait, I mean it’s.
Walking minefields is tough in ‘Murica now.
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
Glad you got the humor. We NEED it.
So much fuss over a garden when bigger issues are at play. Gardens are constantly evolving with times and styles which keeps it all interesting. I agree it’s a bit demeaning to assume Dr Biden will attend to this. Love the comments. Always good to keep our sense of humour.
Loved the grammar rant but impelled to point out you ended a sentence with a preposition.
🙂
As Churchill is supposed to have remarked, “ that is something up with which we will not put.”
For fun, check out the difference between a preposition and a a verb particle!
❤️ Susan Harris!
That was funny. Thanks!
Funny post and some good points, but just as most gardeners know growing most roses under trees is harder, most gardeners also know that removing trees of any height drastically alters the aesthetics. In this case, the removal of the crabapples makes the surrounding buildings more severe and the transition from building to garden choppy. Even if there are now more roses, it is a less attractive version than the previous one. It is perfectly possible to grow well selected roses under crabapples in DC. More generally, roses are grown to perfection at many other major DC locationsm including Dunbarton Oaks, the Smithsonian, and the national botanical garden.
The sad thing about all these comments is that you have a garden blog playing down the importance of one of our most important national landscapes. Makes less sense that improper use of “it’s.”
I’m sure Jill can handle it. As with Melania, her role is almost purely ceremonial. She wouldn’t actually have to do any work. She can still teach her English classes.
In response to your statement that GardenRant is “playing down the importance of one of our most important national landscapes,” I give you this whole category of blog posts about nothing but the White House garden — 23 posts so far, and counting, all by me. I write about it because I take it seriously. Doesn’t mean we can’t still laugh at a silly Twitter thread. https://gardenrant.com/white-house-gardens