An iconic tree known as the Jackson Magnolia which has shaded the White House’s South Portico for the majority of American presidencies will be taken down this week due to safety concerns, Donald Trump said on Sunday.
Arborists have struggled for years to keep alive the sickly southern magnolia, whose striking figure marks a focal point along the building’s southern façade.
The tree was planted by former president Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the US, to commemorate his wife, Rachel, who died just before his swearing-in in 1829.
It was purportedly a sapling brought from his home in Tennessee.
The tree stands near the curved portico on the south side of the building and is where foreign leaders are often welcomed for ceremonial visits, and where the president departs to board the Marine One helicopter.
The tree at nearly two centuries old is the oldest on the White House grounds, according to the National Park Service, which notes that starting in the 1870s most presidents began installing their own commemorative trees.
‘The bad news is that everything must come to an end,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social, explaining that the magnolia was ‘in terrible condition, a very dangerous safety hazard, at the White House Entrance, no less, and must now be removed.’
Trump said the historic magnolia would be replaced by ‘another, very beautiful tree’ and that its wood would be preserved ‘and may be used for other high and noble purposes!!!’
An enormous tree known as the Jackson Magnolia which has shaded the White House’s South Portico for the majority of American presidencies will be taken down this week
Trump said the historic magnolia would be replaced by ‘another, very beautiful tree’ and that its wood would be preserved ‘
The tree was planted by former president Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the US to commemorate his wife, Rachel, who died just before his swearing-in in 1829
The tree was significantly pruned in 2017, during Trump’s first term.
It was also damaged in 1994 when a small Cessna plane crashed into the South Lawn and skidded into the White House.
The White House gardens already made headlines earlier this year when Trump said he was planning to pave over the famed Rose Garden that the Oval Office overlooks, to give it the patio-like feel of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
‘The grass just doesn’t work,’ Trump told Fox News, adding that it gets ‘soaking wet.’
During Trump’s first term, first lady Melania oversaw a renovation of the Rose Garden, controversially rearranging the fabled plot’s traditional design.
Trump has long expressed admiration for Jackson. Early in his first and second terms he prominently displayed Jackson’s portrait in the Oval Office and visited Jackson’s plantation, The Hermitage, in 2017 to commemorate Jackson’s 250th birthday.
Trump announced the forthcoming removal of the enormous tree on his Truth Social
The magnolia was planted on the South Lawn by President Andrew Jackson. The Bidens are seen holding hands as they planted a new magnolia tree in May 2022. The new tree was grown from a seed from the original
A photo from last month shows a portrait of Andrew Jackson, top, and George Washington hung in the Oval Office. US Attorney General Pam Bondi is seen speaking with Trump
During the visit, Trump praised Jackson as a champion of the common man who stood against an arrogant elite, drawing parallels between Jackson’s era and modern times.
During his first term, the administration delayed the plan to replace Jackson’s image on the $20 bill with that of Harriet Tubman, a move critics attributed to Trump’s reverence for Jackson.
Furthermore, Trump’s political style and rhetoric have also sometimes been compared to Jackson’s populist approach.
Both leaders are noted for their appeal to the “common man” and defiance of political norms together with the reshaping of their respective political parties to reflect their personal ideologies.