Linda Kunesh, a retired school principal, has been gardening at the DuPage County Nursing Home for more than a decade.
The DuPage Care Center Therapy Garden has become a place of learning in many ways.
Every Thursday from May to September, Kunesh and other trained volunteers ring the bell at 10:15 a.m., make their morning announcements, and share their weekly lesson with nursing home residents.
They learn to control plant diseases and occasional pests and grow herbs and vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, carrots, etc.) in their beds in care facilities.
Some residents have vision problems, so Kunesh emphasizes the tactile experience of gardening. The hands of others are of no use. If they have a doctor's appointment or can't garden that week, another resident, a friend of theirs, steps in to help them and bring in their harvest.
"We provide all the necessary accommodation," says Kunesh, 71, who is still a teacher at heart.
While everything looks empty and gray outside, Kunesh is gearing up for a busy spring. Kunesh says good gardening takes patience "and a lot of hope". She learned these lessons from her mother, Grace, who worked in a greenhouse when her husband died at age 40.
"He didn't like the garden," said Kunesh, who grew up in Elmhurst with his three siblings and now lives in Carroll Stream. "She loved her flowers, especially her little dahlias."
Grace Kunesh decided to move into her own care facility in 2014. Residency.
Grace Kunesh sat in the garden every day with a book or alphabet soup, surrounded by her little dahlias. He died four years ago at the age of 93.
"He was a fire eater," his daughter said.
Linda Kunesh can be said to look like her mother.
"She's very caring and thoughtful and emotional," care center director Janelle Chadwick said of Linda. "And when he wants to do something, like move a tree or pick up trash, he's like a dog with a bone. He won't let go."
His passion goes far. What began as a humble underground garden has grown into a 12,000 square foot world of horticultural beauty that has won awards and thousands of dollars in grants.
"It just took on a life of its own," Chadwick said.
The seed of community
It is affectionately known as the "Secret Garden" and is located behind the state campus. A dozen rows of raised beds make the garden accessible to wheelchair users or walkers. A post on the garden reminds visitors that it's a place to "reset, reflect, rejuvenate."
"Some of these residents are struggling with such serious medical issues," Kunesh said. "It somehow gives them time to forget their troubles."
More than 60 volunteers from the Master Gardener Corps, a group established by the University of Illinois Extension Program, offer their experience and physical labor. Kunesh has been the leader of the party since 2011.
"The Master Gardener's adaptation and what he goes through is very structured," Chadwick said.
Well-organized, well-organized, looks like a classroom, right?
Kunesh was a former special education teacher and director of the Independence Center for Early Learning in Elgin Area School District U-46. Bartlett Preschool welcomes students with and without disabilities.
"It was wonderful to see the kids and learning together instead of in separate classrooms," Kunesh said. "There have been years where special education isolated children from other children."
Now reduces feelings of isolation among older adults. With 368 licensed beds, the center provides long-term care and short-term rehabilitation services to hundreds of patients, most of whom receive Medicaid.
“One of the best things about this gardening program is that we've created a community of gardeners,” says Kunesh.
This community stuck together during the darkest days of the pandemic.
As residents went into quarantine, Master Gardeners continued to plant and post tips in The Secret Garden Gazette. Copies of the newsletter were given to each resident gardener. Call center staff even read articles aloud over the PA system.
"It gave them a great opportunity to connect with what's happening in the garden," Kunesh said.
A nice bonus
The numbers behind garden care are staggering: From 2009 to 2022, Master Gardeners volunteered 23,475 hours at the DuPage Care Center.
Kunesh built support for the garden in his funding request. Bloomingdale's Garden Club, of which she is a member, has donated $4,000 worth of flowers since 2012. Prosec's Greenhouse in Winfield has been donating vegetables and herbs for decades.
During the 2022 season, 55 resident gardeners, each with their own 15-square-foot plot, planted vegetables and flowers of their choice.
Local gardeners sell nutritious produce and flower arrangements at a mini farmer's market down the hall, using the money they raise to fund a late-season brunch in September. They donate products to Wheaton's People's Resource Center Pantry.
Chadwick buys bouquets to decorate the desks of the employees.
"The way they put them in vases and arrange them is just beautiful," she said.
A garden planted in 2020 with lemon balm and 80 other pollinator species should look better than ever next summer.
"You know what they say about perennials? The first year they sleep, the second year they crawl, the third year they jump," Kunesh said.
But this time of year, as a token of appreciation, give gardening lessons.
"To be able to work with such wonderful people, the residents, the master gardeners and the staff, I cannot speak highly enough of the people who gather there to work in the garden."
