Human Flower Project
Pearl, the Movie
Pearl Fryar, who took topiary where it’s never been (or consider venturing), has been the subject of our intense study here at HFP. Shortly before our visit to Bishopville, South Carolina, in 2005 Fryar had just given his garden a super-spiffing for film-makers Scott Galloway and Brent Pierson. Their movie A Man Named Pearl has been released and opens this weekend in Dallas, Texas; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Santa Rosa, California. It will travel the U.S. through the coming months (find a schedule on the filmmakers’ website) and should be out on DVD in December. We haven’t had the pleasure of seeing it yet, but considering the subject, how could it be anything but glorious?
Dawn Stranne kindly alerted us to some recent developments. The Garden Conservancy, which when we visited had just committed to helping Fryar maintain his creation, has established a “Friends of Pearl Fryar’s Topiary Garden” fund. “In May, after visiting the garden, members of the Garden Conservancy board donated enough money to the ‘Friends’ group to purchase a cherry picker for Fryar.” Having seen Fryar climb an extension ladder to the top of his giant flattened oak, then set up a second ladder, climb it, too, and reach his arms out to the fullest to trim a “topknot,” we commend this act of “Friendship”! Dawn reports also that the organization has developed a mission statement and business plan for the garden’s future preservation.
The natural forces of South Carolina (by that we mean kudzu and other untamed growth) always conspire to sunder Pearl Fryar’s achievement. Congratulations to the Garden Conservancy for this ambitious undertaking, in keeping with Fryar’s own lofty spirit.
“Few gardens stake so bold a claim as to be about effecting social change,” said Garden Conservancy Preservation Projects Director Bill Noble. “But that’s what Pearl Fryar aims to do. By helping to preserve his garden, the Garden Conservancy is working to help Pearl continue to spread his message about the power of ‘average’ individuals to do great things.”
Pearl Fryar discusses his topiary garden
Bishopville, South Carolina, July 2005
Photo: Human Flower Project