Daily News from New York, New York • 111

FT ft Hires landscape architects to create a vision of future i "ft Read, a landscape architect with Atelier Dreiseitl. "It's about being responsible about energy, being accurately aware of the environment, and evaluating human needs." Jay Womack, a landscape architect with Conservation Design Forum, said the two firms are looking at how best to use existing water resources around the garden to irrigate the grounds. "Forty million gallons of rainwater fall on the garden," every year, Womack said. "We want to figure out how to capture that rainwater." The designers also are looking at ways of tapping into a tributary of the Flushing River that runs underneath the garden grounds. "It's about 15 feet below the surface," he said.

But, he added, "We don't know what's in that water." To jump-start the design process and to encourage people to share their ideas about water and gardens, the garden is sponsoring a series of workshops starting tonight. The garden staff and representatives of the two design firms have invited the public to participate in an experiment in clay river modeling at 6:30 tonight. "It's really about adults and children doing things with their hands and seeing immediately how the water flows through a space," Read said. The guests will be asked to form a giant river out of clay and create barriers and troughs to watch the movement of water. "This is a kind of opening session for us," Read said.

"It's about changing people's perceptions and understanding of water. We'd really like to draw out people's memories and thoughts about water." On Sunday, the design team will hold a drop-in design session at the botanical garden's auditorium from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. And on Tuesday, it will mount an exhibition of its previous work. "I hope they inspire the public," said Susan Lacerte, the garden's executive director.

"We really want to hear from people." In addition to redesigning its grounds, the garden also is trying to establish itself as a resource on how different cultures use plants. Erin Moriarty, gardener-in-res-idence, is collecting information about plants used by Queens folks, from the henna plant used by South Asian immigrants to draw Mehendi tattoos, to herbs used for cooking and medicine by Chinese immigrants. For information about the workshops, call Jennifer Ward at the Queens Botanical Garden: (718) 886-3800, ext. 220. 4 1 An experiment in -J By MAKI BECKER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Over the next decade, the staff of the Queens Botanical Garden plans to transform the grounds into an environment that reflects the dynamic community surrounding it.

But with so many cultures represented throughout the borough, the challenge is by no means simple. "How can we connect all the cultural communities?" asked Jennifer Ward, the garden's landscape architect. "We didn't want a Japanese garden, a Korean garden, a Chinese garden. We wanted something that tied all cultures together. And in garden history, water is often a main theme." Inspired by water's basic and ubiquitous qualities as well as its beauty, the garden leadership chose water as the theme for its master plan, Ward said.

To realize this vision, the garden has hired two firms Conservation Design Forum, from Elmhurst, 111., and Atelier Dre-iseitl to incorporate the water theme into the new design for the garden. The two firms share a commitment to creating what are called "sustainable environments" in urban settings. "Sustainability is a word we all bandy about," said Jessica It got to the point in which I was afraid to open my mailbox." NOACK, THOUGH, is no longer afraid. Thanks to the alternative medicine treatments she has followed for six years, she feels healthy. Despite her doctors' disbelief and their dire predictions, she is dancing again.

"I feel better than ever," Noack says, sounding not at all like a sick person. "Now I have to run. I have a rehearsal and two more interviews." Performances at La Mama E.T.C., 74A E. Fourth St, Manhattan. Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.

Sundays at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. ($15 and $20). For information and tickets call (212) 475-7710, or visit www.lamama.org. this one is planned tonight at 6:30 at the Queens Botanical Garden.

Guests will be asked to form a large river from clay. a. ATELIER DRBSEm. clay modeling along the lines of "I felt I was being treated like a criminal," she says of her time at the hospital. "They gave me five months of chemotherapy and I was dying.

But when I said it, their attitude was one of 'You don't know what you are talking I was labeled a difficult patient because I asked too many questions and wanted to know my options." She decided to search for a different cure. But even if she had wanted to continue, she could not have done it. Her Medicaid was canceled and her meager salary was not enough to pay for the expensive chemotherapy treatments any longer. "It is all a huge business," Noack says. "They kept sending me bills and threatening letters.

Noack recalls. "You have five cancers a doctor told me. 'Obviously your treatment has not "Well, I think it I answered him. 'After all, according to you, I should have died five years Undoubtedly a pretty strong argument. As the story of a Latino woman without health insurance stricken by breast cancer, "Six Months to Live" hits a painful chord with thousands of Hispanic women who have found themselves in the same life-and-death predicament.

The play makes clear that Noack's rejection of traditional treatment goes beyond her horror of chemotherapy, and brings another perspective to the reality of breast cancer. hv PJ. mmmf i 4t nmiii 3 31 0) po SUSAN STAVA performs in "Six Months to Theatre in lower Manhattan. Karim Noack Live" at La Mama Experimental.