The White House’s magnolia tree is 200 years old, it overlived 39 presidencies but next year the tree will be cut.
Magnolia near the White House has overlived the American Civil War and two World Wars but not Trump presidency. In fact, the decision to remove the tree was ultimately made by first lady Melania Trump after she assessed all of the professional information and accompanying historical documents.
Stephanie Grisham, a White House spokeswoman, said the first lady had requested that seedlings be maintained so that a new tree could possibly be replanted in the same area. The huge tree is one of three on the west side of the White House and the oldest on the White House grounds. The iconic magnolia extends from the ground floor, up past the front of the windows of the State Dining Room on the first floor and beyond the second-level executive residence.
The tree has had a long and storied life, it even became a legend, but now it has been deemed too damaged and decayed to remain in place. Magnolia’s first problems began in the early 1970s when a section of its base was displaced and its exposed cavity was cemented. This was standard practice for the era, but some said it damaged the tree irrevocably.
The daughter of ex-President Bill Clinton, Chelsea, tweeted her thanks to those who have looked after it over the years and to Mrs Trump for the re-planting plan.
The “Jackson” magnolia was planted by President Andrew Jackson as a tribute to his recently deceased wife. Under the White House plan, the iconic tree is scheduled to be taken down later this week. The historical tree suffers a lot from the high winds resulting from frequent helicopter landings, that complicates the future of the limb because it may fail in an unpredictable way. And no need to forget that the issues of hosts and guests’ safety are not the least for the White House, of course.
