The Talented Topiary Artist Who Created a Magnificent Public Garden From Composting Scraps

The Garden is about love

Great Big Story visited with Bishopville, South Carolina resident Pearl Fryar, who transformed his backyard into an incredibly lavish garden with towering abstract topiaries. Fryar first created his garden in order to constructively prove an ignorant comment wrong and using clippings from the compost dumpster at a local nursery, set out to win “Garden of the Month”. After achieving that goal, Fryar continued to cultivate his garden, opening it up to the public and proudly proclaiming through the land “Love, Peace and Goodwill”.

Fryar has been working on the garden for over 30 years.

Since the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar has created fantastic topiary at his garden in Bishopville, South Carolina. Living sculptures, Pearl’s topiary are astounding feats of artistry and horticulture. Many of the plants in Pearl’s garden were rescued from the compost pile at local nurseries. With Pearl’s patience and skilled hands, these “throw aways” have thrived and have been transformed into wonderful abstract shapes.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.