A flagstone walk flanked by
colorful phlox and annuals,
plus a mosaic gazing ball,
leads the way from one
garden to the next while a
playful frog hides in the shade.
S
URROUNDED BY SPRAWLING PLANTS,
gargoyles and fairies, the gardens at this shady Potowomut home
feel magical. Homeowner Erica Malinowski, a self-professed garden
junkie, says the yard has evolved over two decades, but it didn’t
get crazy until ten years ago.
“I started out just puttering and now it’s an obsession,”
Malinowski says. “I had a lot of perennials that would re-seed, so
I needed more garden space and less grass.”
The result is a combination of untamed “I planted myself” garden
areas with more orderly beds around the house, along with color-
ful containers and hanging baskets. In total, there are three huge
beds in front, gardens on both sides, a backyard vegetable garden,
a pool garden, several herb gardens and two nursery gardens for
starting plants.
Malinowski even has a Letterman-style list of ten ways you
know you’re a garden junkie. For example, when other women say
flats, they’re talking about a type of shoe, but the gardener thinks
of flats of flowers. The work is her passion and her therapy.
“You get out there, dig and move things around — it’s fun. It’s
like decorating for the outdoors,” she says. “You create little garden
rooms everywhere — exterior design instead of interior design.”
66 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l
MARCH 2020
To fill her gardens,
she chooses what will
g row well here and
bloom all year. For best
results, the key is to
favor native plants.
“If you try to grow
something not for this
area, you have to pay
more attention and it’s
not going to thrive,” she says. “For example, I don’t do too many
roses, they’re just so high-maintenance. I have a couple of land-
scape roses and a couple of the hardier ones, but if I have to coddle
them I don’t want them.”
She often divides and reseeds perennials but will splurge on
annuals for the nonstop color.
“Starting in March I go out and buy whatever I like the look of;
it’s different every year,” she says. “I store them under the patio until
it’s warm enough, then I spread them out and play with color com-
binations. I plant my containers first, then fill in other areas.”
Approximately 100 containers add color, interest and height.