Born to a Family of Sharecroppers, This Topiary Artist Overcame Discrimination to Become the 'Picasso of Plants'

Born to a Family of Sharecroppers, This Topiary Artist Overcame Discrimination to Become the 'Picasso of Plants'

Self-taught artist Pearl Fryar, who died this month at age 86, got his start when he tried to win an award from his local garden club. He ended up becoming a celebrity in the horticultural world

Pearl Fryar dies at 86. The self-taught topiary artist spread a message of love.

For years, he would work his 12-hour shift at a can factory, then come home to tend to his carefully trimmed oaks, pines, boxwoods and junipers. Floodlights helped him keep gardening after dark. And a bevy of makeshift tools —…