{"id":27504,"date":"2026-04-06T21:31:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=27504"},"modified":"2026-04-07T00:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T04:58:08","slug":"pearl-fryar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2026\/04\/06\/pearl-fryar\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye, Pearl Fryar, Topiary Gardener"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar began transforming his home in Bishopville, South Carolina, into a fantastic topiary garden<\/a>, often using plants rescued from the compost piles of local nurseries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have any limitations because I really didn\u2019t know anything about horticulture,\u201d he has said. \u201cI just figured I could do whatever I wanted to with any plant I had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fryar died April 4, 2026, at age 86, according to The Post And Courier<\/a> of Charleston. “The garden is [now] managed by a South Carolina nonprofit whose mission is to preserve Fryar\u2019s artistic and horticultural legacy and provide opportunities for artistic and educational enrichment,” the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pearl
Pearl Fryar\u2019s Topiary Garden at Bishopville, South Carolina, June 20, 2019. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fryar was the born into a sharecropper family in Clinton, North Carolina, that \u201cnever had that much.” He worked for a New York bottling company, which later relocated him to the Pee Dee. “He began maintaining his garden in response to rejection from White residents living inside the town limits of Bishopville, who worried about<\/a> the possibility of a disorderly property in their midst,” The Post And Courier reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe last thing you see before you leave my garden is \u2018Love, Peace + Goodwill.’ So now, my garden not only appeals to the eye, but it appeals to you emotionally because you\u2019re going to feel differently when you leave than when you came,” Fryar said in 2017. “My message also is to try to help someone less fortunate. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, occasional newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9 Greg Cook 2026 or the respective creato<\/em>rs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pearl
Pearl Fryar\u2019s Topiary Garden at Bishopville, South Carolina, June 20, 2019. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar began transforming his home in Bishopville, South Carolina, into a fantastic topiary garden, often using plants rescued from the compost piles of local nurseries. \u201cI didn\u2019t have any limitations because I really didn\u2019t know anything about horticulture,\u201d he has said. \u201cI just figured I could do whatever I wanted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27505,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,105,582],"tags":[1134,1377,1378],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27504"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27615,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504\/revisions\/27615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}