Pearl Fryar is a self-taught artist who has transformed his yard into a garden of topiary forms unlike anything else on earth. Hundreds of uniquely sculpted shrubs and trees blend in unexpected harmony. Junipers shaped like abstract ships, live oaks fashioned into mushrooms, and cypress fanning out like fishbone. The yard stands as a testament to Fryar’s perseverance and daring creativity.
Location & Visiting Hours
The garden is located at Pearl Fryar’s home, 145 Broad Acres Road Bishopville, South Carolina 29010
Open Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Admission is free. Please donate if able.
Pearl and His Garden
Pearl Fryar and his wife Petra moved to Bishopville, South Carolina in the early 1980s. Initially, Fryar salvaged plants from a local nursery’s throwaway pile, nurturing and pruning them into his first topiaries. After long shifts at his day job, he would work into the night with flood lights and a gas-powered hedge trimmer. Fryar’s creations are unique because they have a degree of fluidity over time. He allows shapes to continue forming until he can’t reach the top of them, making the garden a living, evolving space.
Preserving the Garden
Fryar, now in his 80s, had originally wanted to win Bishopville’s Yard of the Month. He has since won the National Garden Clubs’ Award of Excellence. The Garden is represented as a non-profit organization with longtime assistant Michael Baker, the Fryar’s son Patrick, neighbors, the Riverbanks Botanical Garden, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and the McKissick Museum working to restore and maintain Fryar’s fantastical pieces.
“The world needs this garden, this vision.” – Amanda Bennett of the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
Want More?
- The Garden’s Official Website, where you can read about updates and donate.
- Fryar’s street, where many of his neighbors have cut their own beautiful hedge designs.
- Bishopville’s Waffle House, 1113 Sumter Hwy, Bishopville, SC 29010, where Pearl Fryar landscaped the bushes in front and eats for free.
- The South Carolina State Museum, 301 Gervais St, Columbia, SC 29201, where several of Fryar’s cypress tree sculptures flank the museum’s entrance.
- A Man Named Pearl (2006). A fantastic, award-winning documentary. I checked out a DVD from my public library. Watch the trailer below:
What’s Nearby?
- The Button Museum, 53 Joe Dority Road, Bishopville, SC 29010 – This museum celebrates Dalton Stevens, “The Button King,” who collected millions of buttons and displayed them on cars, clothing and furnishings.
- The Cotton Museum, 121 W. Cedar Lane, Bishopville, SC 29010 – This museum covers the history and science of cotton. It also features a 3-foot tall model of a boll weevil and plaster casts of the Lizard Man’s footprints.
Pearl Fryar’s Topiary Garden is an evergreen oasis. I’ve gotten to visit twice, once in 2017 and once in 2022. Even when the sculptures have appeared a little less sharp than in years past, they are absolutely amazing. Both times, I left deeply inspired by how a man with no formal horticultural background could (literally) carve out such a special place.
