Pearl Fryar simply wanted to win Yard of the Month from the local garden club, becoming the first African-American to get the honor.

He and his wife, Metra, had been stung by a racist remark — “Black people don’t keep up their yards” — after looking for a house, their first, in a white neighborhood in Bishopville, S.C. So they bought a simple brick ranch in an outlying black neighborhood and Pearl, the son of sharecroppers, set about creating a garden any neighborhood would be proud of.

(Photos courtesy of Shadow Distribution)

Some 30 years later, he’s won worldwide acclaim as a self-taught topiary artist, and his 3.5-acre fairytale garden draws about 5,000 visitors a year, bringing much-needed tourist dollars to rural Lee County, the poorest in the state.

At 7:30 p.m. tomorrow , Fryar will host a preview screening of a new documentary about his life, “A Man Named Pearl,” at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville.

Here’s a link to the rest of my story in today’s Journal News.

If you go

• “A Man Named Pearl,” 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jacob Burns Film Center, 364 Manville Road, Pleasantville. Tickets: $6 for members of the film center and the Garden Conservancy, $10 for nonmembers.

• “The Art of Topiary,” 3 p.m. Thursday, Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture Hall, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx River Parkway at Fordham Road, Bronx. The hour-long lecture is free with admission to the garden (grounds-only pass: $6, $3 for seniors and students; all-garden pass: $20, $18 for seniors and students).

Here’s info from Pam Freeman:

“Sunday, July 27, 11AM, ALTERNATIVE ENERGY WHAT IS THE ANSWER? Join the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies for a lively discussion about one of the most important issues facing society today.

“On July 27 the Cary Institute will host an Alternative Energy Colloquium at Listening Rock Farm in Wassaic, NY.

“The benefit will feature an alternative energy update by Cary President Dr. William Schlesinger, a forestry biofuel primer by Forest Ecologist Dr. Charles Canham, a tour of Listening Rock Farm and a carbon-neutral house prototype, a Q&A session and brunch with local produce.

“Tickets are $75 per person; RSVP by July 23 to Vicki Doyle at (845) 677-7600×203 or doylev@ecostudies.org.”

Along with a luscious-looking zinnia called ‘Apricot Blush,’ Renee’s Garden is introducing a new pure white zinnia called ‘Polar Bear.’

It offers fully double 4-inch blooms that will remind most gardeners of dahlias as much as zinnias. Each bloom has a golden center that unfurls into little yellow stars as the flowers mature.

The multi-branched stems are tall — 3.5 to 4 feet tall — and ‘Polar Bear’ should be a prolific bloomer in any garden with full sun.

I can’t imagine an easier annual to grow than zinnias — and they do particularly well from seed.

Known botanically as Zinnia elegans ‘Polar Bear,’ this fast-growing annual is happy in ordinary garden soil with regular, even watering.

For best results, plant the seeds 3 inches apart, and thin the seedlings to 8 inches to keep the plants from getting crowded and collecting mildew.

For long vase life, pick when the blossoms first begin to open and the petals are still tight.

Visit www.reneesgarden.com or call 888-880-7228 for more information.

Do it now

Perennials: Continue planting seeds of hardy perennials and biennials, also English daisies and pansies. If you have a bad problem with powdery mildew on foliage, use fungicides on phlox, zinnias, lilacs and roses.

Prune climbing roses and ramblers after they have bloomed. Remove dead canes and 2-year-old wood, and cut back the tops of this year’s growth about 6 inches. Ramblers bloom on the previous year’s wood so don’t cut too much.

Flowers: Take cuttings of scented geraniums to keep in the house next winter. A 5-inch cutting will root quickly if placed in a shady spot. Read more of this entry »

Did you know that you can protect your trees (and house) from lightning strikes? Here’s the latest from Brad Gurr, certified arborist with SavAtree in Ossining.

Like Lightning Striking …
Like the lines of Lou Christies smash hit, “again and again and again”, every summer I see the tragic consequences of this all to common occurrence.

The people who track these things indicate that you are more likely to be struck by lightning than win the lottery. I know trees don’t buy lottery tickets but plenty of them get hit by lightning.

Its is extremely rare for a mature tree to survive a lightning strike without major damage. Read more of this entry »

July 12
Bronx: Urban Beekeeping – Summer Hive Inspection. Speaker: beekeeper Roger Repohl. Topic:. Peek inside the honeybee hives and learn proper management techniques for a colony during the summer nectar flow. Registration. $30. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Wave Hill, 675 W. 252 St. 718-549-3200.

Ossining: Wildflower Island Tours. Reservations; access to the Island only on tours. Children must be 12 years or older. $6. 10 a.m. Teatown Lake Reservation, 1600 Spring Valley Road. 914-762-2912.

July 13
Croton-on-Hudson: Annual Garden Tour. Self-guided tour of six local gardens, including Aaron Copland’s. Meet at the church. Reservations. $20. 12:30-5 p.m. St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, 6 Old Post Road North. 914-271-4216. Read more of this entry »

Called the kudzu of the Northeast, the wildly invasive mile-a-minute vine has established a firm foothold in the Lower Hudson Valley in just a few years. It joins Asiatic bittersweet, wild grape and porcelain berry as the latest non-native vines to wreak havoc along our parkways and in our parks and woodlands.

To keep the mile-a-minute vine from spreading to parts of Westchester and Putnam that haven’t seen it yet, two volunteer weed pulls will be held this weekend, at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Cross River on Saturday and at the Mianus River Gorge Preserve in Bedford on Sunday. The rain dates are July 19 and 20. Read more of this entry »

It doesn’t take a math whiz to figure out that growing your own makes loads of sense these days, especially when you throw in better taste, less driving and good exercise. Stir in a salmonella scare or two and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a resurgence in backyard vegetable gardening.

As I mentioned last week, I’ve got a story in today’s paper on people who are growing their own food because of high prices at the market. Lots of new gardeners out there this year. Here’s a link to the story.

Note the sidebar on the lower right about a Somers couple who have launched a new business this year that helps people grow organic food for their families. It’s called Green Fork Farms (great name). Good luck to Madeline Fletcher and Kurt Gabel on their new business venture.

Like many gardeners in older communities like Bronxville, Piermont, New Rochelle and Cold Spring, Fran and Alan Zimbard garden under a rich canopy of towering old trees — oaks, maples, willows, beeches and catalpas.

Rather than fight all that shade, they have made friends with plants that thrive in full shade or the dappled light typical of so many suburban backyards in the Lower Hudson Valley. Though it sits on just an acre, their Scarsdale garden is filled with hundreds of shade-loving hostas, ferns, hydrangeas, lamiums and astilbes.

(photos by Carucha Meuse) Read more of this entry »

Ask the Master Gardeners

Q: I have been advised to plant hellebores to thwart the local deer population. Is this sound advice?

A: Yes. Hellebores are not only deer resistant but also add winter interest to the garden. We would suggest looking at the many new hybrids with “flowers” in lovely colors. Please note that not all hellebores have downward-nodding blooms. Read more of this entry »