Painting by Peter Waddell

"The Secret Garden. Last Days of an Exotic World, 1902." When President Theodore Roosevelt moved into the White House he brought his large family and their many pets, including a macaw named Eli Yale and a cat, Tom Quartz. His son Kermit would one day explore the Amazon rainforests of Brazil, a much bigger jungle than those in the White House greenhouses, torn down in 1902 to build an office annex that evolved into the West Wing.