Healing Havens

The garden's color schemes are carefully muted and subdued, with no strong or vivid hues. Instead, soothing blues, creams and whites provide a calm background that recedes a bit. "It provides relief or comfort without being overpowering," said Cox.

The plantings of shrubs and trees -- perennials would make it "too high maintenance," said Cox -- include kousa and flowering dogwoods as well as fragrant plants, such as summersweet.

"I hope this garden will bring hope to everyone who passes through there," said philanthropist Lily Safra. She donated $1.25 million. An additional donation of $3.5 million from the Safra Foundation was a catalyst for the lodge's construction. It provides temporary residence for the families of adult patients taking part in clinical trials at NIH, some of whom stay for months.

For Lily Safra, the garden is both a reminder and a tribute to the awful fragility of life. It is named in memory of her late son and daughter-in-law. A burbling stone fountain is dedicated to the memory of her late grandson. In 1989, Claudio Cohen, 36, and his son Raphael, 5, died in a car accident. Wife and mother Evelyne Cohen died two years later of cancer, still overcome with grief. She received treatment at NIH during her illness.

Five years ago, Lily Safra's husband, billionaire banker Edmond Safra, died in a tragic fire at the age of 67. Cox recalls Lily Safra telling him, "it was in a garden setting that I began to heal." She directed him to develop a garden that was to look residential and homelike.

"I wanted to give (patients and their families) space, peace, time to reflect, dignity and hope. They're in a very bad physical and psychological state, facing tremendous emotional challenges, and they need tranquility. I wanted to provide a welcoming home so loved ones can stay together," Lily Safra said.

Neighbor to the Safra Family Lodge and across the street from the Clinical Center is the recently expanded 59-room Children's Inn at NIH, which provides a homelike environment for children undergoing treatment, and their families. Behind the inn is a newly installed butterfly garden, with labor donated by the 75-year-old Town and Country Garden Club in cooperation with the National Wildlife Federation and the cable channel Animal Planet. The crew arrived to film the construction of the garden for an upcoming series on backyard habitats, set to air this fall.

"A lot of research shows that nature tends to buffer the impact of life's stress on children and helps them deal with adversity," said Lori Wiener, coordinator of the National Cancer Institute's psycho-social support and research program. And for children who have been in sterile hospital settings, being outdoors engages all their senses, she said.

Members of the Town and Country Garden Club also installed a whimsical sculpture garden specially selected with children in mind. Hidden among the greenery are a variety of small sculpted woodland creatures. "Our intent was to draw children into the garden for some quiet time," said club president Margaret Glacken.

David Mizejewski, senior manager of the NWF's habitat education program, supervised the construction of the butterfly garden and helped design plantings. He incorporated inkberry hollies to provide shelter and cover for the insects, and spicebushes to serve as host plants for caterpillars.

Children staying at the inn will help provide food for the butterflies, in the form of mashed fruit in a specially designed feeder. These encounters with nature will "provide therapy and bring joy, excitement, distraction and a feeling of accomplishment," Mizejewski said.