Historical Timeline

1984: Using a gas-powered hedge trimmer and salvaged plants, Pearl Fryar begins his topiary garden on three acres surrounding his suburban house in Bishopville, South Carolina. Working 12-hour shifts at the factory where he's employed, this self-taught topiary artist would sometimes work through the night creating what will eventually become over 150 topiaries of extraordinary shapes and sizes.

1990: Television stations begin to feature Fryar's plant carvings of the words, "Love, Peace and Goodwill" and eventually feature Fryar and his entire garden. People start driving up from as far as Atlanta on Sundays to see Fryar at work.

1991: The end of his road is expanded as a turn-around for tour buses and Fryar's garden becomes a destination point for visitors from all points of the globe.

1995: Pearl Fryar receives a commission to create a topiary for the State Museum in Columbia.

1997: Fryar is invited to participate in a site-specific public sculpture exhibition in Charleston, for Spoleto USA, and is featured in Art in America magazine. Since then he has been featured in Garden Design, Fine Gardening, Charleston magazine and The New York Times.

2005: The New York Times refers to Fryar's work as one of "towering ambition" and Fryar appears on CBS Sunday Morning.

2006: Fryar receives the Winthrop University Medal of Honor for significant contribution to the arts.

2006: A documentary about Pearl Fryar and his garden, "A Man Named Pearl," wins the Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis and the Audience Choice Award at the Salem Film Festival in Oregon.

2007: The Garden Conservancy helps to create and incorporate the Friends of Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden, whose mission is to help support the garden and its eventual transition into a public institution.

2008: "A Man Named Pearl" wins second Audience Choice Award at the Salem Film Festival in Oregon.

2009: The Friends of Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden and the Garden Conservancy enlist Lindsey Kerr of Athens, Georgia, for a 12-week internship to document maintenance practices in the garden and collect and organize archival material relevant to its history.

2010: In January, Lindsey Kerr is hired in new position as fulltime Project Manager at the garden. May 12: The Martha Stewart Show features a visit to the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden.