The Healing Gardeners

The Tanger Labyrinth Lee Hinshaw, Kestrel Imaging

Thanks to a grand vision and several helping hands, Cone Health Cancer Center’s Healing Gardens offer space for transformation — within and without

By Ross How ell JR.

Thursday morning in July — another workday for the Healing Gardeners, a band of volunteers providing care for a 2-acre sanctuar y next to the Cone Health Cancer Center at Wesley L ong Hospital.

T he Healing Gardeners star t early, tending to their assigned tasks before the heat becomes oppressive.

It’s a race with the sun.

I squint at the glaring concrete sidewalk as I make my way toward the hospital f rom the multilevel park ing deck down the hill.

A he ad I sp ot a woma n in a sun hat se ate d on a b ench. She waves at me a nd st a nds. I gla nc e to my lef t. Young oa k t re es r ise just on t he ot her side of t he side wa l k ’s a lum inum ha ndr a i ls, a nd b eyond I se e r a ise d wa l k ways c ur v ing into a n ex pa nse of shr ubs a nd t re es.

At t he b ench I’m g re ete d by K . Por ter A ichele. A p et ite woma n w it h sa ndy blonde ha ir, she’s a ret ire d professor f rom U NCG, where she t aug ht ar t h istor y a nd museum st ud ies.

Not only does A ichele help with the care of the gardens, she also volunteers at the cancer center’s f ront desk.

“For a lot of patients, I’m the face of recover y,” A ichele says.

Is she ever.

A ichele’s about 10 years out f rom being treated at the center herself — first, for breast cancer and later, for sk in cancer.

“It was so depressing during my chemo,” A ichele says. “T here was nowhere you could walk, unless it was among the cars.”

She gestures toward the garden.

“T his was all riprap and poison iv y then,” A ichele says. She has a pleasantly deep voice and measures her words when she speaks. She gazes into the garden and nods.

“You know, Mar y and I are both former patients,” A ichele continues, “so we know what this garden can mean to people.”

As if on cue, Mar y Magrinat, head of the Healing Gardens, rounds the walk. She’s fair, with dark hair and pale blue eyes. T here’s a qualit y in her face that’s radiant.

Magrinat’s a driving force behind the creation of the Healing Gardens. She seems to have been destined for it.

Half a lifetime ago, at age 36, Magrinat was diagnosed with an aggressive stage one

Meditation Terrace and Arbor Daniel Ray Photography

form of breast cancer. Treatment saved her, and she was able to continue her professional career.

But not long af ter selling her financial ser vices business, Magrinat and her husband, Gus, an oncologist with the Cone Health Cancer Center, were introduced to landscape designer Sally Pagliai, who had recently lost her husband, Stefano, to stomach cancer.

“You’ll be meeting her in a bit,” Magrinat says.

T he boardwalk we star t along is wide enough for a wheelchair. Magrinat tells me that we’re entering the Wetland Garden.

“Cone Health wanted to put a park ing lot here or expand the cancer center,” Magrinat says, “but they determined that it’s absolutely not buildable.”

Protecting such a “biocell ” is required by the Nor th Carolina Depar tment of Natural and Cultural Resources. In addition to providing food and shelter for wildlife, the wetland also filters impurities f rom drainage water before it flows into Buf falo Creek on the nor thern border of the garden.

T hat side of the garden is separated f rom Wendover Avenue by the creek and the nor th end of L ake Daniels Greenway.

Af ter Magrinat and others were successf ul raising private f unds and lobbying for help f rom the Cit y of Greensboro, a committee in 2013 had the space sur veyed, cleaned up some debris and the Healing Gardeners under took their first big project — planting 234 nondeciduous trees as a visual and sonic buf fer bet ween Buf falo Creek and Wendover Avenue.

T hen Magrinat and others turned their attention to the wetland. With the constr uction of a nearby park ing garage, drainage r unof f into the area had become even more dramatic.

“In 2014–2015, we did a lot of planning and f undraising,” Magrinat says. T hen the Healing Gardeners set to work in earnest.

Magrinat explains that ever ything I’m seeing — steps, walk ways, benches, stonework, birdhouses, flowering plants, trees and shr ubs — was paid for with private contributions.

“T here was nothing here,” Margrinat says. Her smile brightens. “It’s completely transformed isn’t it?”

Yes, it is.

Magrinat describes the loop path we’re on. It goes all the way around the garden. If someone prefers a shor tcut, there’s a boardwalk across the center. A ll the walks are wheelchair-accessible and enter the garden on the side that backs up to the hospital.

Vegetation abounds.

“Most ly we’ve t r ie d to pla nt t h ings t hat w i l l t hr ive a nd t a ke over,” Mag r inat says, “ but a s you se e, some c at t a i ls just showe d up on t heir ow n.”

Trees planted by the Healing Gardeners include native river birch (Betula nigra), bald cypress (Ta xodium distichum), sweet bay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana), tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), red maple (Acer r ubr um) and a variet y of wa x myr tles and cedars.

“We’ve done a lot of tree planting,” Mag r inat continues. “We planted 353 trees w ithin this garden in addition to the 234 a long Wendover.”

Among the native shr ubs planted by the Healing Gardeners are yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria), red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) and bottlebr ush buckeye (Aesculus par viflora) — impor tant food sources for wildlife. Wetland flowering plants include buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), marsh hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos) and swamp sunflower (Helianthus ang ustifolius).

With her usual command of numbers, Magrinat notes, “And we’ve planted more than one thousand ferns,” not to mention the scores of hellebores and hostas I’ve seen during our walk.

Gateway Arches with trumpet vine in Bloom Mary Bernard Magrinat, Photographer

“T he hostas are f rom Por ter’s garden,” Magrinat says.

“I wish my Solomon’s seal looked a little better,” says A ichele. “And I have to tell the stor y behind the hellebores.”

A ichele tells me that they were a gif t f rom the original garden of the late Dr. Jean Brooks.

“It’s a wonderf ul stor y,” Magrinat adds, “because she was the first female g ynecologist in Greensboro.”

“It couldn’t have been a colder day in Febr uar y when we moved the plants,” A ichele continues. “Ever y single one of these hellebores we brought over and planted here that day.”

A long the boardwalks, wooden benches invite quiet meditation, as do smooth boulders. W hen I comment on one of the stones, Magrinat and A ichele decide to show me the source of much of the Wetland Garden’s moisture.

We walk to the towering park ing deck. Just visible behind boulders sk illf ully placed to obscure them are the enormous concrete culver ts that drain the foundations of the deck. More stones are placed along the stream flowing f rom the culver ts into the garden, naturalizing its appearance.

“T his was one of the ugliest places in the garden,” Magrinat says. “Sally Pagliai and I had 65 tons of boulders brought in.

“Sa l ly la id t hem out here a nd t hroug hout t he garden,” she c ont inues.

“T here were g uys with fork lif ts setting the boulders,” A ichele adds. “Now they look like they’ve always been here.”

We approach a grassy spot with chairs alongside Buf falo Creek. Brightly colored ceramic butter flies are mounted on black metal posts at the edge of the grass.

“T his is the one place where we added a little bit of color,” Magrinat says. “For the most par t, nature is the star here and provides all the color, texture and sound.”

“Oh, there’s one of our gardeners,” A ichele says, pointing out a man on his knees in what looks to be a soupy patch of wetland. He waves happily and continues with his weeding. We pass lovely white hydrangea bushes and a patch of joe-pye weed.

“We love those kaleidoscope abelias,” A ichele says, pointing them out. “T hey have such wonderf ul color.”

We pass a cur ved arbor. T hough its springtime blooms are gone, Mar y tells me the arbor is planted with tr umpet vine on one side and Carolina jasmine on the other. T here’s more sunlight in this par t of the garden.

“I want you to meet R ichard Mansell,” Magrinat says.

At age 84, Mansell is the senior Healing Gardener. He lived in Florida for 50 years and is a retired botany professor. A lank y, genial man, Mansell takes care of the succulent garden, the newest addition to the Healing Gardens.

Pagliai designed the rock garden that’s home to 75 succulent varieties, each one provided f rom Mansell ’s home garden.

He tells me that af ter he moved to Greensboro, he first tried to grow flowers.

“My hose never was long enough to water them,” he chuck les, “so I said this is crazy, I’m going to grow something that doesn’t need water and is cold hardy.”

His favorites are sedums — blooming succulents of ten used as ground covers — along with semper viv ums — low-growing succulents with rosette shapes, popularly known as hen and chicks.

Mansell points out sedums with interesting modulations of color and semper viv ums of var ying rosette shapes and pigments.

W hen I ask him about some prick ly pear cactus volunteers in my yard, he tells me all about how he saw some mules eating cactus in a Florida pasture. We have a good laugh.

A ichele inter venes, teasing Mansell about weeds she’d noticed among his sedums.

“Get back to work, R ichard,” she says, and we move along.

Next, A ichele introduces me to Healing Gardener Gerr y A lfano.

“Here’s our coordinator,” A ichele says. “She calls us to arms ever y T hursday.”

A lfano laughs.

“Mar y’s ver y convincing,” A lfano says. Af ter Magrinat spoke at her garden club, A lfano ran into her at a neighbor’s Christmas par t y.

“W hen Mar y found out I loved gardens,” A lfano continues, “and had worked with volunteers, she got me corralled.”

She explains that Healing Gardeners have a wide range of experience. Some are self-taught but have been gardening for years. Some are Master Gardeners. And some volunteers are complete novices.

“T hose who don’t have any experience get paired with a Master Gardener,” Magrinat inter jects.

“It’s a great way to learn,” A lfano concludes. “We all share a great love of the garden.”

Now we’re standing near a grove of Japanese maples in the shade of the cancer center. I look up at a balcony that juts out f rom the second floor, where patients receive treatment and therapy. New ear th lies in mounds by the building.

Nearby, in the Meditation Garden, a woman caref ully weeds a bed of herbs by a stone fountain. Closer, a woman g uides a wheelbarrow loaded with shr ubs by a stone labyrinth. T he labyrinth is an original feature the Healing Gardeners have embellished with new plantings.

I hear the rattling of garden tools and the murmur of voices f rom a shed not far away. Birdsong and the drone of cicadas fill the air.

Even in the shade, I can tell the sun is getting hotter.

A tall, fit woman with shoulder-length br unette hair tucked under a hat is digging with a long-handle shovel.

“Sally?” Magrinat calls.

He a l ing Gardener Pagl ia i, a nat ive Ca l ifor n ia n, is t he ow ner of St ud io Pagl ia i L a ndsc ap e a nd Garden Desig n. She’s bu i lt gardens a s f ar away a s F lorenc e, It a ly a nd Singap ore. She noses her shovel in t he e ar t h.

We greet each other, and Pagliai introduces the young woman work ing alongside her.

“T his is A li Brown,” Pagliai says. “She star ted with us a long time ago and she’s our little hardwork in’ Healing Gardens angel.” Brown smiles shyly and falls back to her task.

Magrinat, A ichele and Pagliai begin to apologize for the appearance of this section of the garden. T hey explain a constr uction company’s equipment tore up the landscape during the balcony renovation.

“Much to my chagrin we had to dig up all these trees,” Pagliai says, indicating a group of Japanese maples. “First I said no, but Mar y said, yes, we will.” Magrinat takes up the stor y.

“T he constr uction people said we’re going to cut these trees down and I said excuse me, you’re not cutting them down.”

“So we moved them under that tree and filled in with dir t,” Magrinat continues. “T hey were there for four months.”

“And they made it,” Pagliai smiles. “T hey made it.”

“We’re tr ying to star t things back, but it’s messy,” Magrinat says.

“In another couple weeks, they’ll be beautif ul,” A ichele assures her.

By the time I’m leaving, the sun is high in the sk y as the Healing Gardeners continue with their tasks.

Some are people f rom the neighborhood. Others simply enjoy being outside, digging in the dir t. Some, like Magrinat and A ichele, are cancer sur vivors. Others, like Pagliai, have lost a loved one. Some just want to help.

In the end, aren’t we all in a race with the sun?

Sometimes I think about my own life. I wonder if I’ll leave anything beautif ul or usef ul behind.

W hat a magnificent legacy will remain for ever y Healing Gardener work ing here today. OH

T he Healing Gardens of the Cone Health Cancer Center at Wesley L ong Hospital are open to the public year-round. T he hours are dawn to dusk. And the Healing Gardeners can always use more hands, regardless of your garden knowledge or experience. To learn more about volunteering, email Gerr y A lfano at mtisdel@att.net.

Ross Ho w ell Jr. is a fre el an ce w r it er. Cont a ct him at ross.h o w ell1@g m ail.com.