Friday, March 16, 2012

Topiary Gardens

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Welcome to the Pearl Fryar Topiary Gardens, located in Bishopville, South Carolina. All this was created by one man.
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Pearl Fryar began work on his gardens at his home in the early 1980s. In 1985, he was awarded Yard of the Month.
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By the mid-1990s, Pearl's topiary gardens gained national recognition, being featured in numerous newspapers, magazines, and television programs. In 2006, there was even a documentary made about Pearl and his gardens - aptly titled A Man Named Pearl.
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Pearl bought this piece of property - a corn field at the time - totally barren of trees. He planted every single tree and shrub you see in these photos. (It's amazing how he trains them to grow in certain ways, distorted, into shapes.
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Many of these plants and trees were retrieved from compost/trash piles at various nurseries.
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Pearl took plants that were "ugly", or sick, or undesired by others, and crafted and coaxed them into living works of art and beauty - impressive topiaries.
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He maintains his topiary by trimming the trees every 4-6 weeks. People come from miles around to see Pearl's creations. He even donated one to the State Museum in Columbia, South Carolina!
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Pearl had no previous experience with topiaries. He got a quick 3-minute lesson on topiaries from a local nursery, and went to work cutting up the bushes around his home.
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Pearl also designs metal sculptures and fountains, which he has placed throughout the garden.
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He uses scrap metal to create what he calls "junk art." If you look closely in the next few pictures, you may find the words "love," "peace," "goodwill."
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My favorite photo from the whole shoot, L O V E. Pearl must be one remarkable man.
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Do you see the dog drinking from the fountain?
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And across the bridge is the Garden with a Message. A message of love, peace, and goodwill. Pearl wanted his visitors to leave with a positive message.
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Pearl literally dug trenches in the ground - in the shape of letters - and filled them with pine straw. It spells out the words love, peace, goodwill in 8 foot tall letters.
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Continuing with the love theme.
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The reverse side.
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The sun was wonderful that day.
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Do you see the message? Kali said this picture was all sunshine, rainbows, and butterflies :).
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Do you see the elephant?
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This was a really impressive place. A huge work of living art. Pearl has his own website at www.pearlfryar.com. You can find more information there. I picked up a brochure during our visit. Most of this information (don't I sound brilliant?) actually came from that brochure. If you get near Bishopville, you should definitely drop in and say hello to Pearl!



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