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Pearl Fryar's Topiary Gardens – Bishopville, Lee County, South Carolina
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Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden – Overview
A Cut Above – When Pearl Fryar moved to Bishopville in 1976, the three acres that surround his suburban ranch-style home consisted of nothing but flat, barren cornfields. In the early eighties, he began planting and pruning trees and shrubs. After two-and-a-half decades of near constant labor, he has transformed his yard into an internationally-known topiary garden that attracts 5,000 visitors a year. In May 2008, SCIway traveled to Bishopville to meet Mr. Fryar, who talked to us for the better part of two hours and treated us to ice cold bottles of water and our very first ride on a cherry picker!
- Fryar's Topiary Garden - Pearl's official website
– Evolution of Pearl Fryar as an artist - By Polly Laffitte, former curator for the SC State Museum
– Plants in Fryar's garden - 500 topiaries in all - List of Latin names, common names, and types
– Web gallery - Photo slideshow - Use play icon in bottom right corner
– Directions, map
- Evergreen Surrealist – Pearl Fryar - Excellent, in-depth article about the art behind Fryar's topiary sculptures - Originally published in The Oxford American - Pictures too - Definitely worth a read!
- Pearl Fryar's Topiary Gardens: Yard of the Century - SCIway News article brings together some of the significant events in Fryar's life that led to his reincarnation as artist and topiary master - Focuses on how these events helped shape his garden's "message" of dedication, goodwill, and unity
- Towering Ambition Gets Loose in the Yard - March 2005 New York Times article explores Fryar's motivations, frustrations, once uncertain future, and relationship with wife and neighbors
- Pearl Fryar: A Natural State - Interactive overview of Fryar's philosophy and process - Includes several videos and some of the best shots of Pearl's garden online - Also features a special section on Fryar's community work with Sumter's Mosaic Garden - Great for school children and adults alike - Use pinecone-shaped Back button to return to homepage
Pearl Fryar's Fishbone Topiary – © SCIway.net 2008
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A Man Named Pearl – Documentary & Reviews
A feature-length documentary released across South Carolina in 2007, A Man Named Pearl is now taking national film festivals by storm.
Bishopville's Waffle House – © SCIway.net 2008
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The Future of Pearl Fryar's Topiary Gardens
The Garden Conservancy, a national nonprofit preservation organization, has recently designated Fryar's garden as one of the Southeast's four most preservation-worthy garden properties. Together with the newly-formed Friends of Pearl Fryar's Topiary Gardens, their goal is to ensure that Fryar's masterpiece will grow and thrive for years to come.
Fryar Shows Off His "Pot Head" Hanging Sculpture – © SCIway.net 2008
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Pearl in Pictures: Videos, Photos, and Podcasts of Fryar and His Garden
Almost all the links in our guide contain pictures of Fryar's amazing topiaries. The links below are dedicated to documenting Fryar's artwork via video and photographs. (The last link leads to a podcast of one of Fryar's lectures.)
Fryar Stands Beside His "Love & Unity" Sculpture – © SCIway.net 2008
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Pearl Fryar – Further Reading
Relevant abbreviations, variants, misspellings: friar, friar's, fryer, fryer's
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