This is true civic service right here, from Nixon all the way through to Biden:
Eighteen and a half acres. Five hundred trees. Five thousand shrubs. All immaculately maintained to serve as the background for historical events, nightly cable news hits and visitor selfies. And the green thumbs steering that horticultural enterprise belong to Dale Haney the White House grounds superintendent who recently marked his 50th year working on the property.
"If you ever met him, he is a wonderful human being," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday. "We want to thank him for his continued service and 50 years of contributions to the beauty and abundance of the White House gardens and grounds."
Fifty years is a long time. You can imagine that Mr. Haney has seen a great many shrubs, trees, bushes, boxwoods — both common lawn plants and rare species alike scattered throughout the White House grounds.
Dale Haney is himself actually a bit of a rare species! Not many photographs of this half-century executive gardener seem to exist, though he appeared in a White House tree planting video during the Obama years.
