KEY POINTS

  • Dr. Jill Biden has "no plans" to renovate the White House Rose Garden during this time, her spokesperson says
  • The first lady shared on Friday a photo of the Rose Garden with the flowers in full bloom
  • This comes after a petition calling for Biden to undo Melania Trump's changes to the garden reached 76,000 signatures

First lady Dr. Jill Biden has "no plans" to revamp the Rose Garden at the White House during this time despite calls for her to restore it to its "former glory."

More than 70,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for Biden to reverse the changes made to the White House Rose Garden by her predecessor Melania Trump last year. However, the current first lady's spokesperson has suggested that the garden is not one of Biden's top priorities at the moment.

"There are no plans," Biden's spokesperson Michael LaRosa told Yahoo News Friday.

Shortly after LaRosa's statement, the FLOTUS tweeted a photo of the Rose Garden, showing the blooming pink and white flowers planted along the White House colonnade.

"Spring is here at the @WhiteHouse!" she captioned the image.

Trump had swapped out the colorful tulips and other bright perennials and annuals with white and pastel roses when she unveiled the new Rose Garden in August of last year following months of renovations, Vox reported.

Despite this, Twitter users continued to urge Biden to restore the garden in the comments section of her tweet.

"Please bring the roses back to the rose garden and add more colorful flowers!! Nature is a blessing and gives hope. Michele s garden back too. Carter’s solar panels. Let’s all make the earth green again! It’ll help with climate change! More trees too!" one commented, while another said, "Please return the Rose Garden to its former glory."

Wrote another, "Please bring Jackie’s Rose Garden back."

Some thought Biden had already made changes to the garden. "OMG! Have you quietly replaced all the beauty that the prior tenants removed! More pictures please! Colorful Roses in the Rose Garden. Thank you @FLOTUS," one wrote.

Other users defended Trump's revamp of the garden and pointed out that the flowers in Biden's picture were what the previous first lady had planted last year but only just bloomed.

"These are the same bushes that Melania planted - they just weren’t in bloom yet when the garden was first renovated. I don’t respect the Trumps, but these are the facts," one commented.

"DC has seasons. What you're seeing are seasonal blossoms. The season for bright-colored tulips is over. The crabapple trees had to be moved. And they only live so long," another netizen wrote of the changes made to the Rose Garden last year.

"The changes MT made didn’t cost you anything. It was paid for by private donations. Also, this is a picture of the same flowers MT had planted that are now in bloom," a third user commented.

This comes over a week after the launch of the petition calling for Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff to "take this on" and restore the Rose Garden to the previous design of former first lady Jackie Kennedy. The petition organizers also accused Trump of turning the garden into "a boring tribute to herself."

The petition has gained over 76,000 signatures as of this writing.

Jill Biden speaks at a presidential campaign event for her husband Joe Biden on September 30, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio
Jill Biden speaks at a presidential campaign event for her husband Joe Biden on September 30, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio AFP / ROBERTO SCHMIDT