Rebecca Dymock
June 01, 2018
The small town of Bishopville, SC is home to some traditional vacation stops like museums and parks, but also a few quirkier spots like Pearl Fryar’s Topiary Garden. Pearl is happy to speak with his guests about everything from bushes to better education systems. Pearl’s garden, located right in his backyard, is filled with beautiful topiaries, fascinating metal works and pearls of wisdom. His guests are likely to leave not only with fond memories of his landscaping feats, but with a sense of ambition as well. It's people like Pearl that help make South Carolina the beautiful state that we love.
Side Notes
- Pearl Fryar, Iconic Topiary Artist has died at 86.
- Pearl Fryar's Living Legacy Continues - Pearl Fryar’s medium is plants. His message is crystal clear even among his forest of swaying green creatures, his topiary garden spread across three acres in Bishopville, South Carolina. Now in his eighties, Fryar planted his garden over decades and opened it to the public in the 1980s.
- June 27 was recognized as Pearl Fryar Day by the South Carolina General Assembly for his “humanitarian ideals and artistic influence” (1998)
- Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award for the Arts (2013)
- Award of Excellence - National Garden Clubs Inc. (2017) - "My goal when I started my garden was to win Yard of the Month," Fryar said chuckling. The chuckles come because the 77-year-old man with no gardening experience was awarded the Award of Excellence, the National Garden Clubs' highest honor.
- Pearl Fryar's Topiary Oasis in Rural South Carolina.