Today I am sharing the second in a series written by talented writer and author Jackie Cangro highlighting people who live out their lives in an extraordinary manner. Please join me in welcoming Jackie to It’s Just Life and stop over at her blog to say hi there as well. Her first guest post can be found here.
Pearl Fryar lives in an average house in an average neighborhood in Bishopville, South Carolina. But tour buses carrying church groups and youth campers visit him regularly. They come from around the world to see his backyard. His garden oasis of topiaries contains more than 300 living sculptures, and it all started with one throwaway plant he found in a compost pile at a local nursery.
Pearl is as unlikely a topiary artist as you’ll find. His father was a sharecropper, and although Pearl was a good student, college was an improbable option for him in the 1960s rural South. Later, when he tried to buy his first house in a predominantly white area, some neighbors grumbled that he wouldn’t keep up his yard. He answered the naysayers by being the first black man to win the local garden club’s Yard of the Month award.
Topiary is not a hobby for people who want instant gratification. Most trees take years to train into the desired shape, usually an animal or geometric figure, though Pearl is partial to abstract forms. To turn a mushroom-shaped tree into a square one, Pearl worked for four to five years. He never uses forms or wire cages to assist in molding the tree. His work is freehand, but he goes in with a vision. “It’s a matter of perfecting it until I’m really comfortable with it,” he says.
To say Pearl is hands-on is an understatement. He tends every aspect of his yard on all 3-1/2 acres: planting, watering, pruning, mowing, raking, sculpting—he does it all himself. And he’s done it all with no formal training, except for a three-minute lesson at the garden center. Horticulturists are usually astounded at what he has managed to create. “They say, ‘You shouldn’t be able to do that,’” Pearl says, “and I say, ‘I didn’t know that.’”
Pearl’s wife, Metra, could be called a topiary widow, if there was such a thing. He has spent about 70 hours a week maintaining his topiaries for the past 30 years. Before Pearl retired from his job making aluminum cans, he would work in the garden from the time he got home until midnight or one in the morning, often by the light of his riding lawn mower. Metra serenely accepted this calling Pearl felt he had to answer. “I just waited to see what was going to come about,” she says. “When he’s in the garden, it’s man relating to nature.”
The neighbors, however, were a little nonplussed by the goings on in the Fryars’ yard at first. “You could always hear the lawn mowers going, the chainsaws. Something is wrong here,” one neighbor remembers thinking. “But years passed and you could just see the miracle happening.”
The garden is a meditation of sorts for Pearl and for visitors. Some people have made multiple return trips to commune with the topiaries. He doesn’t turn them away, nor does he charge an entry fee. He has a donation box for people who can afford it. “For people who can’t afford it, they are as welcome as someone who put in $100. Sometimes the very people who can’t afford it are the ones who most need to come,” he says. “It wasn’t important to me to create a garden. I wanted to create a feeling that, when you walk through, you feel differently than you did when you started.”
Now in his late sixties, Pearl’s passion has remained strong. Charles Holmes, an arborist, says, “Pearl spends so much time in the garden, he has an almost mystical communion with his plants. He talks with them—he’s almost like a plant whisperer.”
In every cone-shaped shrub, every spiraling pine, every square dogwood tree is the message Pearl is trying to communicate. “There are always going to be obstacles. The thing about it is, you need to be strong enough so you don’t let those obstacles determine where you go in life.”
Thank you, Jackie, for sharing this wonderful man with us today. What a gift and what an inspiration he is to all he encounters. I know I want to make a trip to see his lovely creations and am sure many of my readers will want to do so as well. Please feel free to visit with Pearl online at his fabulous website PearlFryar.com. You won’t be disappointed in what you will see there.
38 Comments
Leave a comment[…] thrilled to be able to share Pearl’s story on Beth Ann’s blog, It’s Just Life. Beth Ann also participates in Comments for a Cause, donating money to a charitable organization […]
Thank you so much for making this space available for me to share Pearl’s story, Beth Ann. He is such an inspiration, and I’m glad that even more people will be able to see his amazing creations. His passion and dedication is so encouraging.
I’m also thrilled that this month’s Comments for a Cause organization is Room to Read, a charity I’ve supported in the past. They do important work.
Thanks again!
Thanks so much for sharing, Jackie. You know that I love this series because it is just what I believe in —sharing amazing people and amazing stories. Pearl is nothing short of amazing and I am thrilled to have him featured today. Thanks so much for your willingness to share with me and with my readers. You rock!
This post made me so happy! I absolutely love reading about peoples’ passions — and Pearl sounds remarkable. Such a unique and exacting activity. I’m an avid gardener but cannot imagine having even a tiny dose of the patience or vision to create his masterpieces. He truly is an inspiration.
Julia, Thanks for stopping by. I agree. Isn’t this just an amazing man and the skill that he has is beyond words. I am so thrilled that Jackie shared him with me and with all of my readers.
No kidding, Julia. I marvel at his patience. It reminded me of the patience that we need to have when writing our novels. Little by little it takes shape. 🙂
Wow! That’s so impressive to me. It’s just beautiful!
He is quite talented, I agree. Now I want to go see this, don’ t you?
What a beautiful story about a man who has found his passion in life. His attitude is to be treasured. I would love to tour this place.
Thank you for your lovely comment. I am thrilled to spread the word about Pearl’s garden oasis. It’s wonderful that Beth Ann has provided space for me on her blog today.
I LOVE having you guest post!!!!
I love that this topiary garden is a meditation for both Pearl and those who visit. Exquisite and beautiful, I do believe that those who visit admire the pretty view, but also take a little something for themselves which they may not be able to articulate.
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today! I loved this story and I suspect you are correct that sometimes it is something that is taken away from an experience that cannot be articulated in words. I love that thought.
I agree, Rudri. I think that visitors take away something for themselves from Pearl’s garden, something they may not even realize. A seed is planted that will grow within them long after they leave. 🙂
Beautiful post, Jackie, about a beautiful soul. (And now you’re reading a beautiful, souful novel, Nora Webster.)
Lorraine, Thanks so much for stopping by and reading Jackie’s post. I love what she shared about Pearl and am loving this series. I am so grateful she has agreed to post on my blog from time to time because it is stories like these that warm my heart and obviously the hearts of both of our readers. Please come back anytime!
Thank you, Lorraine!
I’m about 50 pages from the end of Nora Webster. I’m reading more slowly because I don’t want it to end. 🙂
This seems to me to be where all great creativity begins: “You shouldn’t be able to do that.” “I didn’t know that.” Nice work, Jackie . . . and Mr. Fryar.
It’s perfect, isn’t it? Thanks so much for stopping by! Jackie has the best followers!!!!
What a great point. When I was including that quote, I hadn’t seen it that way. Thanks for shedding new light on this whole piece.
His plant sculptures are amazing! I recall seeing this man on TV a while back. He truly is an artist. As an avid gardener, I’ve tried topiary, and it’s not easy to even do a simple shape!
Thanks for stopping by, Cynthia. I loved “meeting” this man through Jackie’s words and I am anxious to be able to visit his place sometime, aren’t you?
It’s hard to imagine climbing an enormous ladder with a chainsaw in the dark of night to coax a round tree into a square one. You’re right, Cynthia. He really is an artist.
What a good story. I’d never heard of this and he’s just a day trip away from me in N.C. I need to put him on my “to visit” list.
Isn’t it an amazing story??? Thanks so much for dropping by!!!!
Oh, I hope you get to visit. I’d love to know what it’s really like to be there — to see those trees in person would be amazing.
I first heard about Pearl from a woman I dated last year. She mentioned him, I checked out his web site and was amazed at what I saw. What he’s created is fantastic! I would love to see his gardens in person, but probably not with her. I’d like to visit with Milton.
I admire Pearl’s dedication. He works so diligently on his craft. I bet Milton would love these gardens (me too!).
This goes to show that everyone is passionate about something. I admire his dedication, and how lucky that he has a spouse who is understanding. Maybe someday I’ll visit. Nice to see Jackie here. And hi Beth Ann!
Thanks, TBM!!! Jackie has the best things to share!!!!
I love that everyone can find their calling in different things. That individuality is what makes me enjoy these stories. You never know when something will resonate with someone. Thanks for stopping by!
Super cool. I am amazed by this talent. I can’t even manage to give my box woods a flat top.
I know! Me, too. I love what this guy has taught himself to do and maybe someday I will able to see it in person.
What an extraordinary man and gift, an artist indeed.
I agree. I am so thrilled Jackie shared him with us. Thanks for stopping by!
What an amazing guy. It is so cool to see someone with such a passion doing what he loves. Nicely done as always, Jackie.
What a lovely man! We have one small rabbit topiary growing (very slowly) around a frame, and my husband designs gardens for a living, so you can imagine how impressed I am with Pearl. This is a lovely share. 🙂
Thanks so much for stopping by. Wonderful man!!!