Four men add tropical spice to city's gardens.(Life - Family)

Byline: DENNIS GAFFNEY Special to the Times Union

As the early morning sun peeks over Albany's downtown, two city vans and a pick-up truck roll into Washington Park, and four men - Pedro Maria, Jose Macarrulla, Bernie Fana and his son, Robert Fana - step out near the Moses statue. They unload flats of impatiens, and in no time, the unofficial crew boss, Bernie Fana, who is 65-years old, is guiding a small Rototiller through the black-soiled bed shaped like a circle. When that's done, he jabs holes with a hand trowel to make room for the packed roots. The other men follow suit, but know they're no match for Fana, who leads not with commands, but by example.

"We call him `The Machine,' says Macarrulla, 38, "because he never stops working."

All four gardeners are from the Dominican Republic, and they serve as the right-hand men to Judy Stacey, the city gardener. When she took her post six years ago, she …