Greenways & Other Summer Fun: Other Summer Fun: Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden

"How did I get here?" This is the question running through my mind as I'm driving west on highway 20 in South Carolina, my mom sitting beside me pouring over her TripTix travel planner, both of us pretending we're on The Amazing Race and headed for the next clue. I've actually been asking myself that question a lot lately, perhaps as part of some sort of mid-life (?!?) crisis. Mostly this question popped up when I started thinking about quitting my job, and then especially since April when I actually left my job of 9 years and decided to try my hand at stay-at-home wife and mother. I mean, who quits a good-paying (or any) job in this kind of economy, and who decides to stay home with her kids when her kids are 10 & 7? Really, how did I get here?

Answering that question falls outside of "Greenways & Other Summer Fun", but I can answer the question of how I got to South Carolina. We were on a quest to see Pearl. My mom's been talking about going to see Pearl for the past year. She'd read about him, and then seen a documentary about him and his life. Apparently, this documentary is so inspiring that even Dick, her husband, was willing (and excited!) to drive the 7 1/2 hours from Tallahassee, Florida to Bishopville, South Carolina. This from a man who does not like to drive long distances, and only makes the sacrifice to dive to see us once each year (at Christmas). I admit, I was curious. I wanted to see what Pearl was all about, and so the JB's and I decided to take a little road trip.

"Pearl" is Pearl Fryar, and he's the guy in the blue shirt in the picture (above), sitting in his John Deere Gator and talking to some visitors at his home in Bishopville, SC. Maybe you've seen his story in the documentary A Man Named Pearl (I haven't, but it's next up on my Nextflix que). Maybe you've seen him in his John Deere commercial (I haven't seen that either, although I understand it's the one Brett Favre is in). I knew Pearl was a man who had put a topiary garden in his yard and had gotten some attention from it, and apparently people come from all over the world to see his garden. That's about all I knew, and that's kind of what I was thinking we were going to see -- a garden. What an understatement!

In Bishopville we met a world-famous artist. A living, breathing, contemporary folk-art genius. Pearl Fryar is a topiary artist, and his living medium are the plants, bushes, and trees in the 3 acre yard that surrounds his house. He was sitting in his front yard when we drove up, almost like he was waiting for us to get there, and we were excited! He gave us a really warm welcome to his home, and after chatting with us for a bit he invited us to take our time and look around his yard, which serves as both his studio and gallery.

Since 1983 he's worked in his yard to create a topiary garden that is unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. I know, you're probably thinking, "Topiary is pretty and everything, but really, how special could it be?" It almost defies description. He's completely untrained, and had never seen or read about topiary before he started. And yet, walking through his yard, you see a total body of work where each piece of topiary is unique, and yet all flow together to create a lush landscape that's visually stunning.

You can go online and read his life story, or rent his documentary from Netflix. Next time you're on 95 heading through South Carolina (and I'm convinced everyone will be at one time or another) I would encourage you to take a little detour over to Bishopville and see his work for yourself. You will not be disappointed!

What impresses me the most is that he didn't even start doing this until he was in his early 40's! When he bought his first home and finally had the means and the time to devote his attention to something where he would be able to express his creativity, that's when he started. He worked his whole career for one employer, and when he finished his 12-hour workdays at the can manufacturing plant he would come home and work in his yard, where his heart was, sometimes until 1 am. Now that he's retired he spends a lot of time working with kids, because he believes that everyone has the power of creativity and originality within them, and that kids especially need to be given opportunities to find out what's within them. About topiary he says, "There's the right way, there's the wrong way, and there's my way," and when you look around at his work, you know he's right.

Everything you see in his garden is something he's designed and created on his own, from his own vision. Some of his sculptures took more than seven years to be fully developed. His patience and vision is difficult to comprehend, and when you look at his yard and think about the fact that he doesn't fertilize, doesn't water, and that many of his plants came from "throwaway plants" from local nurseries, you might think, "How did he get here?"

But I'm pretty sure Pearl's not wasting his time thinking about how he got here, and maybe that's part of the lesson. I read recently that the essential question isn't "How did I get here?", but rather, "Where am I going?" I think, up until this point, I've studiously avoided trying to answer that seemingly impossible question because, frankly, it's a lot more fun to look back and analyze, and re-analyze . . . . and easier too. And it sure doesn't take much creativity or originally.

Meeting Pearl and seeing his work makes me want to try to find an answer to that question -"where am I going?"-- and maybe even find the creativity and originality within me. Meeting Pearl gives me hope that it's not too late to try.

"Gardening books will tell you that some of these things in my garden can't be done, but I had never read them when I got started. Not knowing ahead of time that something is supposed to be impossible often makes it possible to achieve. I didn't have any limitations because I really didn't know anything about horticulture. I just figured I could do whatever I wanted with any plant I had."

Pearl Fryar

Nathan: We went to Bishopville, South Carolina and saw Pearl Fryar and his garden. This trip was a surprise because all me and Noah knew was we were going to a hotel. We were also surprised to see our Grandma Carol and Grandpa Dick and Joey. Pearl Fryar has a 3 acre topiary garden where he cuts bushes and trees to look like different shapes, using hedge clippers and a cherry picker. He has so many shapes and there are so many sizes you couldn't imagine. He even cut his address into the bushes in front of his house. We never saw any giraffes or turtles or any other animals. No, he was different and he sculpted different things. The lines in his plants were perfect.

It is really nice of him to allow people from all over the world to come to his house and walk around his yard. I met Pearl Fryar and he is very nice. He sits outside and talks to people and shares his ideas about his artwork. He's even inspired some of his neighbors to do topiary bushes in their yards. Mr. Fryar also likes to have art made out of metal ("junk art") in his garden. He also has plants that spell out P.E.A.C.E., L.O.V.E., and G.O.O.D.W.I.L.L in his yard. It was really hot when we were there, but I felt a presence of majestic beauty in all of Fryar's work.

Noah: We went to an artist's house and his name was Pearl Fryar. He makes bushes and trees into shapes. He carved his address in the grass. He cut shapes in his bushes. He had a lot of bird houses. He was also growing watermelon and peppers. One of my favorite things was meeting him. He was really nice. He had a lot of things to say, like, "I decided to put my energy into something I could control." He was a good man. He is on the John Deere commercial. He is fun to be with. I felt good about going to his house.

(MOM'S NOTE: Pearl Fryar did not actually say this to us when we met him. This is a quote of his that I put in their journal notebooks to help inspire them when writing about our trip to see Pearl. I thought it was funny that Noah chose to include it in his journaling. I hope he remembers it and what it means as he goes through life and has to choose where to put his energy.)

Some of Nathan's 97 pictures . . . they don't do it justice.