Topiary Gardens

Welcome to the Pearl Fryar Topiary Gardens, located in Bishopville, South Carolina. All this was created by one man.

Pearl Fryar began work on his gardens at his home in the early 1980s. In 1985, he was awarded Yard of the Month.

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.

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.

Many of these plants and trees were retrieved from compost/trash piles at various nurseries.

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.

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!

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.





Pearl also designs metal sculptures and fountains, which he has placed throughout the garden.

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."




My favorite photo from the whole shoot, L O V E. Pearl must be one remarkable man.

Do you see the dog drinking from the fountain?


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.

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.


Continuing with the love theme.

The reverse side.

The sun was wonderful that day.

Do you see the message? Kali said this picture was all sunshine, rainbows, and butterflies :).




Do you see the elephant?

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!

Never Forget 9/11

Ten years ago today, these United States of America came under attack.

Thousands were killed. Senselessly. Violently. Lives were changed forever.

Homes and families were changed forever.

Our safety, our security, became challenged. We came together as a country, like never before.

Stronger. Sterner. Bolder. Empowered.

God became real to many who had never really seeked His face before.

God became tangible, and we became stronger.


Ten years. Looking forward. Today we look back and remember.

Never forget.

(I took this photo today, September 11, 2011, at Hope Baptist Church, in Theressa, Florida.)

Asian Gardens Tutorial

I may have mentioned how much I love the Asian Gardens at the Lowry Park Zoo.
The gardens are superbly landscaped. They have these incredible statues everywhere.

I really like the way they look and appreciate the atmosphere they bring to the gardens,
but I really thought the photos should look more 'ancient', so to speak.
So, I played around with editing and came up with these.


I always edit in photoshop, results as seen in the first photo. Then, I ran the Pioneer Woman's Action Set #2
Heartland action, followed by MCPActions' Frosted Memories - Faded Edges, Low Res action. These are the results.


I really love the way these turned out!




I think the statues look ancient. Like something you'd see in a history book!


That is totally the look I was going for. Super easy!

Pansies Are Her Favorites

My mom's favorite flower is the pansy. She used to grow them in her yard, in every color.
These particular pansies were at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
I began by sizing the photo in photoshop and reducing any noise. Voila! You have the first photo.
Then I used the Pioneer Woman's free action set #2, ran the Strawberry Fields action, and ran the faded edges action.
This is what you see in the second photo.




My mom would love to see these pansies first hand, but she's going to have to be happy with just my photos.
I think she will like these, almost as well :).