Make it ugly
I saw something yesterday saying Melania Trump would be saying something for the Republican convention from “the newly renovated [by her] White House Rose Garden.” Uh oh, I thought, what’s she done to it.
Ew.
To be fair, the one on the left is obviously spring – the crabapple* trees would not be flowering even if they were still there. But they’re not still there. They’ve been swept away. The vibrant various colors have been replaced by icy blue and white.
It’s funny, in a way, because the minimalism is so unlike the vulgar garishness of that Trump Tower apartment, but it’s still horrible, only in a different way. It’s cold and stiff and empty instead of lush and various and joyous. It’s reminiscent of that gruesome all-silver Xmas decoration of the interior.
And there will be no crabapple blossom next spring.
*Or cherry. I had cherry at first then changed to crabapple because
but then
To be fair, it does look like she put roses in the Rose Garden.
She took the flowering trees out and made it into a formal parterre garden? Would 100% not recommend. How old were those trees?
This is not something they would put on “Gardening Australia”.
I wonder if there is something about being Republican that makes one hate trees? It seems like all the conservatives in my town (who, unfortunately, are in a huge majority) are on a vendetta against trees. It seems to have to do with the inability to use riding lawnmowers when there are trees. Our school had tons of beautiful, old trees when I started working there 14 years ago. Most of them are gone now, replaced by grass that is not native and requires a lot of watering.
I am pleased to say that the members of the Community Council (who I guess would include a lot of Tory voters) in my area are very attached to trees and get upset if even one is being removed. It may be the difference between the USA and the UK – that Daily Telegraph readers will not like to hear of woodlands being threatened.
One small mitigation: I saw in one of the items I read that the trees are being replanted elsewhere. I don’t know, maybe that’s just “your puppy has gone to a lovely farm,” but I thought I’d mention it.
It might be that political Conservatism in the UK still includes an element of conservatism*.
* of the everyday variety that is cautious and more centred around preserving good things.
One of my perennial pet peeves is the capture of the word “conservative” by the right, while the idea of being cautious about change, not wanting wanting to throw the baby out with the bathwater to abuse an idiom, is considered suspect – or even proof of malice – by some on the “left”.