By Kinisha O'Neill, Staff Reporter
THE BEAUTY of Beverly Cousins' garden overflows the minuscule space in which it rests. Nestled neatly at the back of her townhouse in upper St. Andrew, first time visitors are pleasantly surprised after entering the front door, walking through the dining and living rooms, and being greeted by the burst of greenery on the cozy verandah kissed by her blooming backyard.
This is undoubtedly the pearl of the house.
The housewife and mother of two has single-handedly decorated both verandah and garden, creating a union in which each flows smoothly into the other. Sitting on one of the verandah's three lounge chairs the ambience, created by an assortment of indoor hanging and ground plants, makes you feel as if you are seated outside in the snug backyard. On the other hand, sitting outside at in the garden at the white wrought iron table gives you the feeling of being a part of the house although you are indeed outside the confines of the four walls.
Cousins attributes her creation to a knack for gardening and a love of nature. Her desire, she says, was to bring the essence of the outdoors inside. "I sit out here most times and I find it very relaxing. I'm an outdoors person so of course that is why I enjoy being out here. I start off my day out here first thing in the morning."
She also admits that she doesn't always understand how and why her plants grow, as she follows no particular system of nurturing or grooming them. She adds that she disregards conventional approaches. "I believe that whenever a plant looks terrible, I should prune it. And I don't wait for seasons, I just plant whenever I feel like.
"I do everything whenever I feel like, and I see results so I keep on doing it. I can't bother with all the rules", she explains.
There are plants in her garden that are just stuck in a spot and which have flourished without too much toiling on her part. Cousins reckons that she may just have been blessed with a green thumb.
Whatever it is, Cousins has done something special. "When I moved in here 25 years ago it was just bare, chicken back. Just grass", she recalls. Today it is much more, thanks to her green thumb.
