First Lady Melania Trump recently hosted an official reopening ceremony for the historic White House Rose Garden. The restoration project, announced earlier this summer and overseen by the landscape architecture firms Perry Guillot Inc. and Oehme, van Sweden & Associates/OvS, aimed to refresh the space and bring it closer to its original footprint, while adding modern enhancements, including adaptations to bring the garden in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The modern Rose Garden dates to the Kennedy Administration, when Rachel Lambert “Bunny” Mellon is credited with creating the first blueprint for the area prior to its installation in 1962. According to a White House Press release, “decades of use and necessary changes made to support the modern presidency have taken a toll on the garden and have made it more difficult to appreciate the elegant symmetry of the Mellon plan.”

This summer’s restoration project, paid for by private donations and approved by the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, returned the garden to its original 1962 parameters and included targeted improvements to allow for better drainage, improved infrastructure “and a healthier environment for plantings that reduce the risk of leaf blight.” The update also improved utility services within the garden, including those needed for ADA-compliant audiovisual and broadcasting services.

Melania Trump, joined by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence among other dignitaries, unveiled the refreshed garden on Aug. 22 and delivered a primetime address Aug. 25 to the Republican National Convention from its grounds. During the unveiling ceremony, she praised the work of the design firms and called gardens “symbols of growth and hope.”

“We celebrate this garden in the hope that future generations will not only enjoy — a but also draw inspiration and strength — from this space where so much of our history has been shared,” she said.

Read more about the history of the Rose Garden and the recent restoration project.

Mary Westbrook is the editor in chief of Floral Management magazine.