More
than 50,000 people have signed an online petition calling for US First
Lady Jill Biden to restore the Rose Garden at the White House to its
"former glory".
Ex-First Lady Melania Trump had some trees and some of the more colourful flowers removed last year.
According to the petition, the changes amounted to "a boring tribute to herself".
Presidents often use the garden for addresses and press conferences.
Although the petition says Mrs Trump had "the cherry trees, a gift from
Japan" removed, US media have pointed out that they were in fact crab apple trees and were replanted elsewhere in the grounds
The petition organisers go on to urge Ms Biden
and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff - who is married to Vice-President
Kamala Harris - to "take this on" and restore the garden to the previous
design of former First Lady Jackie Kennedy.
Mrs Kennedy oversaw a major renovation of the garden in the 1960s.
"Jackie's legacy was ripped away from Americans who remembered all that the Kennedys meant to us."
Mrs
Trump was criticised at the time of the changes for going ahead with
the renovation when the country was in the thick of the Covid crisis and
some 150,000 had already died.
The Rose Garden pictured in 1963 on the left and after the 2020 changes on the right
