Behind the Build: Lander’s Bearcat Topiary Roars to Life for Festival of Flowers

Standing tall among the colorful topiaries of Greenwood’s renowned South Carolina Festival of Flowers, Lander University’s Bearcat is more than a striking work of floral art.

The larger-than-life tribute to the University’s mascot is the result of months of planning, hundreds of pounds of materials and countless hours of craftsmanship. The transformation requires ambitious vision and dedication to make the towering floral centerpiece one of the festival’s most popular displays, said Malcolm Pittman, superintendent of horticulture for the City of Greenwood.

“When the Bearcat went into hibernation after the 2025 Festival of Flowers, he was stripped bare to the metal frame and underwent a complete renovation,” Pittman said. “He is new and improved for this year’s Festival of Flowers.”

Located at 323 Main Street in Greenwood, between the University of South Carolina Gamecock and the Clemson University Tiger, the Bearcat is among the Top 5 topiaries in weight and size.

Here’s the scoop on his size and structure:

• Size -- He’s 11 feet tall and 6 feet wide.
• Body -- The Bearcat is made of more than 1,000 plugs of yellow alternanthera, a tropical plant, for his body and head. His face is highlighted with lemon ball sedum, a popular perennial known for its chartreuse color.

The plants have a base of sphagnum moss – not soil. The horticulture crew used 20 bales of sphagnum moss, each weighing 6 pounds, to cover the frame. About 132 pounds of moss comprise the foundation.

• What’s inside – Under the moss and plants is an intricate system of 200 feet of irrigation drip lines to ensure that the Bearcat doesn’t succumb to June and July’s hot temperatures.
• Weight – He’s not in a boxing match, but if he went to a weigh-in, the Bearcat would check in at about 1,000 pounds – or half a ton. And that’s before you add the weight of the metal frame, made of iron and steel. For that, you’ve added another half a ton in pounds. He was transported from the city’s greenhouse to his Main Street location via a construction forklift.
• Claws – The Bearcat’s menacing claws, each about 18 inches long, are made of ivory-painted metal.
• Cost – About $2,000 in plants were used for the Bearcat – and that doesn’t include the hundreds of hours of labor among multiple people who were devoted to rebuilding him.

The topiaries, a crowd favorite among Festival of Flowers visitors, will remain throughout the city through the popular Festival of Discovery, scheduled July 9 – 11.