There’s a donation box on the 3-acre property that accommodates Pearl Fryar’s astonishing topiary garden in Bishopville, S.C.
Visitors are not obligated to pay. If a stroll through Pearl’s garden leaves them happier than when they arrived, that’s ample compensation for the man who turned discarded plants from a local nursery into a horticultural wonderland.
The creators of “A Man Named Pearl” are similarly generous in providing an enriching slice of feel-good Americana that’s infectiously upbeat and totally irresistible. Only a heartless cynic would think of Pearl as a crackpot eccentric instead of a genuine folk artist, and even then there’s a good chance they’d leave this delightful documentary with a big, beaming smile and an urge to visit Bishop- ville.
In a segregated town where formerly unwelcoming neighbors feared that “black people don’t keep up their yards,” Pearl was the first African- American to win Bishopville’s “Yard of the Month” award. With no formal training, this now-retired factory worker (66 at the time of filming, and looking fitter than many athletes half his age) defied the expectations of expert horticulturists and turned his garden into a dreamscape of abstract topiary.
Visitors arrive by the thousands each year to marvel at the bizarre shapes and swirls of Pearl’s living sculptures, the only tourist attraction in a sleepy town that Pearl almost single-handedly rescued from economic extinction.
For Pearl and his devoted wife, some fringe benefits are simple (free meals for life at the local Waffle House) and others profound: As the story of “A Man Named Pearl” unfolds, this chronicle of meticulous upkeep becomes a metaphor for the physical and spiritual health of all humankind.
It doesn’t take a genius to see parallels between the vitality of Pearl’s obsession and the “Field of Dreams” aspect of his wondrous attraction; everything about Pearl is a tribute to harmony of mind, body, spirit and earth. Environmentalists could easily point to Pearl as an example that should be followed if humanity wishes to survive on a life- sustaining planet.
Apart from subtly acknowledging the bigotry that lingers in Bishopville, it’s a film without negatives, and that alone is incredibly refreshing.
On a smaller, less-cosmic scale of appreciation, Pearl’s uplifting story is a welcome reminder that any pursuit of growth and nurturing will yield unexpectedly wonderful dividends.
For those who are receptive to life lessons from this simple son of a sharecropper, Pearl’s legacy will extend far beyond the boundaries of his garden.
