Erin Walrath-Mariano

With a bachelor of fine arts degree from Rhode Island School of Design and a master’s in fine arts from Western Connecticut State University, it should come as no surprise that Connecticut-based kitchen-garden designer Erin Walrath-Mariano has a gift for creating gardens that nourish the eye as well as the body. For more than 17 years, Erin and her husband, Peter Mariano, have been designing, building, and maintaining beautiful herb and vegetable gardens for clients in western Connecticut and on Long Island—with much of the bounty started from thoughtfully selected seed. When Erin is not getting her hands dirty through their business, Aventine Gardens, you can find her digging into materials like old books, metal, and fabrics to create collage, assemblage, and sculptural art.