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Topiary artist's Asian elephants on 'survival tour' of Ireland, Britain

By: Kathy Gilbert
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Joe Kyte

Thirteen boxwood elephants are the faux-animal rage in Ireland this month.

The sculptures began their journey an ocean away at the home of Tellico Plains, Tenn., artist “Topiary Joe” Kyte.

For the past 16 years, Mr. Kyte has built topiary sculptures up to 25 feet tall.

“Immediate green satiation — that’s what all I sell,” Mr. Kyte said.

His portfolio includes a 12-foot-tall, ivy-covered dinosaur for Georgia’s Callaway Gardens, two Shamus for Orlando’s SeaWorld, an 18-piece “Alice in Maliceland” set for a San Diego accountant, a Bat Lord’s dragon castle for Legoland in England, a group of Brazilian bombshells for Las Vegas’ Playboy Club, a Jaguar hood mascot for a Boynton Beach, Fla., client and a 1927 Bugatti for a private estate in Northern Virginia.

A chance encounter in 1992 led Mr. Kyte to contract with Disney World in Orlando, Fla., to create “American portable topiaries.”

Walt Disney first used American portable topiaries to promote his cartoon characters at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., between 1959 and 1962, Mr. Kyte said.

To create the topiaries, frames are stuffed with moss and planted with ivy or shrubs, such as boxwood.

Soon, Mr. Kyte was traveling Florida in a Subaru station wagon, selling topiary cranes and other creatures. As his skills grew, his pieces became bigger and his clients farther afield. A few years ago, Mr. Kyte moved to Tennessee to be closer to his childhood home in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

TRADE SECRETS

A Topiary Joe sculpture begins as an old car melted down to make rebar.

“Most Third World countries make rebar, so I can make sculptures all over the world. And I recycle — it goes back to the Earth,” he said.

He first paints a design on a driveway or barn floor. With a table vise and an arc welder, he then builds the framework without a plan.

“I just see it and go,” Mr. Kyte said.

The frame is then stuffed with recyclable materials, covered with 8 inches of moss, lined with a drip irrigation system and wrapped in 50-pound fishing line.

In Southern California, bougainvaillea might be used. On the East Coast, azaleas, boxwood, lantana or ivy might work. Branches or ivy are lashed to the frame.

“You’re a plant contortionist — and I’m a good plant contortionist,” Mr. Kyte said.

Lately, Topiary Joe has been pushing plastic boxwood instead.

“It’s low-maintenance, blends into the landscape, and if you don’t touch it, you can’t tell the difference,” Mr. Kyte said.

The Survival Tour

The 13 elephants on the endangered Asian elephants “Survival Tour” of Ireland and Britain this summer were made of faux boxwood.

For seven weeks, Mr. Kyte worked non-stop in “Ed’s notorious cow shed” at the Clonakilty Black Pudding Company farm as winds blew up to 91 miles per hour.

“I wore a suit over a really cold-weather jumpsuit and froze my ---- off,” Mr. Kyte said. “Once a day, they’d feed me lunch, and that was it. And the iPod just kept playing.”

The elephant herd travels to six locations, then will be sold at auction in Selfridge’s Department Store in Brighton, England in September.

A second herd will debut in the Metropolitan Museum of Art on an undetermined date.

So far, the promotion to save the endangered Asian elephant has been well-received.

“The elephants are going down a storm here in Clonakilty,” said Survival Tour manager Mary Powys. “We’ve attracted three TV stations, including the national news.”

For his part, Mr. Kyte was delighted to meet celebrities such as Ronnie Wood, Rob Lowe and Annie Lennox at an earlier Elephant Family party.

“I met Prince Charles by stepping on his foot. I was standing in the garden, and I was a little tipsy, and I kind of rocked back and I hear this ‘eeieieieieie,’” he said.

Apparently, the Royal Family forgave the injury.

This month, Mr. Kyte will be working on seven deer to be placed at the Royal Palace Park outside Buckingham Palace.

“The Royal Park is touting them as some type of ‘Save the Deer’ campaign,” Mr. Kyte said. “I’ll be welding them out of 10 mm round hot-rolled steel, which is good. Deer are easier — they’re a lot smaller and quicker.”

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