A cleared cornfield in Bishopville, South Carolina, became the setting for one of America's most distinctive topiary gardens.
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cornfield → become → gardens
In the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar began transforming the land around his home without any formal horticultural experience.
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Fryar → begin → experience
Many of the plants he used had been rescued from nursery compost piles, where discarded trees and shrubs had been left behind.
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trees → use → piles
Fryar instead transformed them into living plant sculptures, eventually creating a three-acre topiary garden containing more than 400 expertly trimmed plants.
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Fryar → transform → plants
Fryar's work was shaped by an interest in pruning that began long before the garden took form.
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garden → shape → form
According to his official biography, he had developed a childhood habit of trimming the shrubs around his family's home into interesting patterns.
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he → accord → patterns
Decades later, while working full time and living in Bishopville, he began pruning trees and shrubs on his own property.
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he → work → property
What developed from that work became a large-scale garden that attracted visitors by the thousands.
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that → develop → thousands
The garden's official website describes Fryar's driving focus as positive thinking, hard work and perseverance.
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website → describe → thinking
He also wanted the garden to remain free to the public, describing its message as one of "Love, Peace, and Goodwill."
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garden → want → Love
Today, the nonprofit Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden, Inc. maintains the property as a living memorial to its creator.
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Inc. → maintain → creator
Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden in Bishopville: how discarded nursery plants became living sculptures
Fryar had no formal horticultural background when he began creating his topiary garden.
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he → discard → garden
He had, however, been interested in shaping plants since childhood.
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He → shape → childhood
His official biography says his habit of trimming the shrubs around his childhood home into unusual patterns had once been frowned upon.
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habit → say → patterns
About four decades later, he began pruning trees and shrubs freely on his own property in Bishopville.
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he → begin → Bishopville
The transformation began with hundreds of plants, many of them excavated from nursery compost piles.
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transformation → begin → piles
Fryar used these discarded trees and shrubs as the material for an evolving landscape of living sculptures.
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Fryar → use → sculptures
His work eventually included geometric forms, abstract shapes and trees resembling familiar objects.
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work → include → objects
One of the garden's best-known creations is the fishbone tree, made from a Leyland cypress.
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One → know → cypress
The official garden website describes it as Fryar's signature tree and says it appears in his logo.
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it → describe → logo
Creating the tree was a seven-year project.
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Creating → create → tree
Other distinctive forms include the square tree, birdhouse tree and mushroom-shaped trees, all of which were created from live oaks.
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all → include → oaks
Along the southern hedgerow, enormous Hollywood junipers have been shaped into sailing ships.
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junipers → shape → ships
Together, these plants form the central collection of the three-acre garden.
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plants → form → garden
The official website says the property contains more than 400 expertly trimmed plants, while Fryar's biography describes the garden as the result of his work with hundreds of plants rescued from nursery compost piles.
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biography → say → piles
Inside the garden: the fishbone tree, junk art and more than 400 plants
The garden extends beyond its living sculptures.
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garden → extend → sculptures
Fryar also created fountains and sculptures from scrap metal, a collection he called his "junk art."
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he → create → metal
The official garden website identifies prominent words incorporated into the pieces, including "Hate Hurts," "Peace" and "Love."
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Hate → identify → Hurts
The message appears elsewhere in the landscape as well.
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message → appear → landscape
Visitors enter through a hand-built concrete driveway framed by hedgerows, while shrubs on the driveway island have been trimmed into the letters L-O-V-E.
Fryar described his work simply, referring to himself as "a man who cuts up bushes."
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who → enter → bushes
He also explained what he wanted visitors to experience when they entered the garden: "I wanted to create a feeling so that you experience something different when you come to my garden.
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you → explain → garden
Every individual can make a difference."
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individual → make → difference
That idea is reflected in the garden's stated message of Love, Peace and Goodwill.
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idea → reflect → Love
The official website says Fryar wanted the garden to remain free to all, and the garden continues to operate on that basis.
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garden → say → basis
Scheduled tours are available in 2026.
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tours → schedule → 2026
The combination of living plants, scrap-metal sculptures and fountains gives the property a character distinct from a conventional landscaped garden.
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combination → live → garden
Its individual trees are shaped into recognisable forms, while the surrounding landscape preserves the larger artistic environment Fryar developed over decades.
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Fryar → shape → decades
Pearl Fryar's legacy: recognition, preservation and the garden after his death in 2026
Pearl Fryar died peacefully at home on the evening of April 4, 2026, according to the current official Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden website.
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Fryar → die → website
The site says he was surrounded by his garden and that his wife, Metra, who had been his wife for nearly 60 years, was by his side.
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who → say → side
The garden now describes itself as a living memorial to Fryar.
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garden → describe → Fryar
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
