Tree honoring Warren G. Harding removed from White House grounds

By Leslie Potashner

First Lady Florence Harding planting the Southern Magnolia at the White House. Library of Congress.

A one-hundred-year-old magnolia tree commemorating Warren G. Harding's presidency was torn down to build the new ballroom at the White House. First Lady Florence Harding planted the tree on March 29, 1922, a little over a year before the president died in 1923. The tree was moved in 1947 to flank the entrance of the East Wing to pair with another magnolia grandiflora planted in 1942 in honor of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which was also removed.

The Warren G. Harding Southern Magnolia in 2023. Kelsey Graczyk, National Park Service.

In the 1950s, the magnolia was designated a commemorative tree for President Harding. Thirty trees and four gardens were planted on the White House grounds to commemorate presidents and first ladies. Two trees commemorating First Ladies Laura Bush and Jill Biden, as well as a garden planted by Edith Roosevelt, later dedicated to Jacqueline Kennedy, were also removed.

Commemorative trees are living tributes that symbolize continuity, life, and growth. President Rutherford B. Hayes began the tradition of planting commemorative trees in 1878. Hayes planted an Ohio Buckeye, aesculus glabra, in honor of the nation’s Centennial and his home state of Ohio.

A commemorative American Elm tree planted on the White House grounds by Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878. Library of Congress.

Although George Washington never lived at the White House, he envisioned a botanical garden on the South lawn while it was being constructed. The first occupant, John Adams, ordered a garden to be built. Thomas Jefferson planted a grove of trees on the White House lawn. Andrew Jackson planted elm, maple, and sycamore trees and had an orangery built to grow tropical fruit year-round.

In 1935, Franklin Roosevelt commissioned Frederick Law Olmsted to redesign the garden landscape. Known as the father of American Landscape Architecture, Olmsted’s designs include New York City’s Central Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace, and Niagara Falls State Park. The grounds retain most of Olmsted’s original design today.