Just yesterday there were TWO plant-related political stories!

First, Trump is ditching the Rose Garden lawn and its demolition is already under way. CNN reported that Trump plans to transform the garden into a patio-style seating area, much like the one at Mar-a-Lago, his private estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

And why? He told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham (Source):

“Every event you have, it’s soaking wet. It’s soaking wet. And people can’t– and the women with the high heels, it’s just too much.”

“That’s where you did the Kavanaugh thing and Amy Coney Barrett,” Ingraham said, noting ceremonies for two of Trump’s Supreme Court nominees.

“The grass just, it doesn’t work,” Trump added. “And we have a gorgeous stone and everything else. But you know, we use it for press conferences and it doesn’t work because the people fall into the, you know, into the wet, the soaking wet [inaudible].”

“The roses stay? The grass goes?” Ingraham followed up.

“The roses stay,” the president replied. “No, it’s a rose garden. All of this stays. Just the center section. I think it’s gonna be beautiful. I think it’s gonna be more beautiful.”

Gotta Reaction?

This news is causing some serious cognitive dissonance, I’m afraid.  My friends who are seriously loathe to praise Trump are telling me, sotto voce, “It’s actually a good idea.”

Gulp.  I’m pretty sure I agree.

The Case of the Missing Oval Office Ivy

And via a feature in the Washington Post we learn that a modest houseplant – a Swedish ivy (which is neither Swedish nor an ivy) has sat on the Oval Office mantel of many presidents, sometimes with a shaggy appearance, for other presidents sporting a topiary look.  According to legend, it was a gift from the Irish ambassador to President Kennedy, but there’s no proof of that.

As of this month, though, the plant is gone, replaced with “seven gleaming decorative objects, seemingly made of gold.” Though suspected of being golf trophies, they’re “artifacts from the White House’s own collection.” Unlike the Rose Garden lawn, the houseplant is still alive though. According to the White House; it’s been moved to the greenhouse on the grounds, “where backup versions have long resided, out of the public eye.”

So who cares about an old Swedish ivy, anyway? Here’s the part of the story I love: “Countless people have descendants of the ivy in their homes, in Washington and across the country. Clippings have been offered over the years as parting gifts to White House staffers, who propagate them at home and give them to friends, who in turn give clippings to other friends, and on and on….The ivy is the plant version of the staff’s devotion and continuity.”

One former Obama staffer has distributed cutting to over 50 former colleagues so far and even “maintains the Instagram account, @ovalofficeivy, dedicated to posting photos of the historic plant and its offspring.”