Evening star., 1962-09-16
By PAUL MARTIN
North American Newspaper Alliance

place where President Ken
nedy frequently holds earnest
conversations while strolling
with very important visitors.
1t is located on a verdant
quarter-acre of well-tended
ground between The Presi-
dents office in the west wing
Oval Room, and the family
residence in the central part
of the white-pillared Execu-
tive Mansion.
The public is not admitted.
II it we're, the grounds might
be trampled down inside of
q week by thousands of tour
lists who line up each morn
ing for the daily conducted
tour of public rooms in The
Presidents house.
This open-air sanctuary of
the First Family compares
favorably with the best pal
ace gardens in Europe. Its
arrangement of trees. shrubs
and flowers would delight
millions of amateur home
gardeners all over America,
who may never get to see it.
Talks With Gardeners
Both The President and
Mrs. Kennedy take a personal
interest in the garden. The
President passes it every day,
walking to and from his Of
flee. often, he stops to ask
questions or make sugges-
tions to the gardeners.
Mrs. Kennedy, who is more
interested in art, antiques,
and interior decorating, ap-
preciates the garden from the
viewpoint of the overall
beauty of the White House
and its setting.
It has been completely re-
done since the Kennedys
moved into the mansion at
1900 Pennsylvania avenue.
When the Eisenhowers lived
there, it was strictly a. rose
garden, with tree roses lining
the Calonnade walk to The
Presidents office, and scat
tered plots Of hybrid tea roses.
Today, the garden is a COM
bination of roses, perennials
and annual flowers, enclosed
by an osthmanthus hedge,
lined with green pillow min
iature boxwood and Dusty
Miller, and shaded lightly by
pink saucer magnolias. white
Towering Catherine crabap-
Piles, holly bushes, and Eng
lish hawthorne in one cor
ner.
In the center Of the rec
tangular garden are $500
square feet of lush Merton
blue grass, without a weed in
sight. The weeds are all
hand-picked - no chemical
weed killers. Flower beds, 10
feet wide, run down either
side. The lawn and garden
are watered daily by an un-
derground sprinkler system.
AlI-Day Sunshine
White marble steps lead
from French doors of The
Presidents office onto the
lawn. At the other end, by
the White House proper, is
q patio of blue Pennsylvania
flagstone. White southern
magnolias tower behind the
patio. With a southern ex-
posure, the garden gets full
sun almost all day long.
The basic design and plant
selection was worked out by
0 friend Of the Kennedys'
who lives in the Virginia
hunt country, and prefers to
remain anonymous. However,
o press officer said: Liter
ally 100 persons or more had
some part in planning or
planting that garden"
The flower varieties include
petunias (blue magic. purple
lustre. and popcorn-white),
geraniums (enchantress, pink
cloud and red irene) dianthus
MRS. Simpkins and tavaD
blue heliotrope from New
York State, white nicotiana,
burgundy gaillardia, achillea
taggetea (pale Yellow, mixed
primulaS, SALIVA farinacea
(blue sage), 18 varieties of
pale yellow day lilies, hosta
albo marginata (funkia), and
vinca. sedum sieboldi. and
epimedium alpiner ground
covers.
Some Of the roses are old
fashioned. There are nine
plants each of Frau Karl
Druschki, a white hybrid per-
petual originated in 1901; the
doctor, a pink hybrid tea
brought over from Australia
years ago; and worlds fair,
q red floribunda introduced
by Kordes in 1910 with an
80 rating in American Rose
Society tests.
Only One AA Award
The only rose in the garden
to win an All = American
award is peace, a Meilland
introduction from France,
rated 9.6 out of a possible
10 points in the All-America
rose selections (AARS), and
generally considered to be the
best rose of all time. 1t is
used as a tree rose in the
White House garden, al
though peace is a vigorous
grower for such a delicate
purpose.
President Kennedy also ac-
cepted 40 plants of Speaker
SAM" named after the late
Sneaker. Sam RavhlIrn from