As any frequent visitor to the Fox lot in West Los Angeles will have noted, amid the blocky buildings, iconic water tower and billboards are tucked a number of quirky topiaries. Penguins, elephants and Bart Simpson all owe their existence to one eccentric, self-taught studio landscaper: Kathy Jones, who sculpts the creations solo and without the aid of wire frames. “It’s the best-kept secret that everyone knows about,” says Jones, whose creations have inspired a segment on The Simpsons, were mentioned in Mindy Kaling’s 2016 book and even spawned an episode of Bones centered on a murderous topiary artist. “Having worked [on the lot] for 11 and a half years, and bringing children to work every day, the botanical sculptures were an iconic part of the landscape,” says Bones star Emily Deschanel. “It was a pleasure to have a character based on Kathy.”
Jones, 55, who grew up in Encino, has been working on the lot as a landscaper for 34 years. Sometime in the mid-’90s she decided (“without permission,” she says) to put her artistic abilities to use on the greenery. “I was already trimming everything into circles or squares, so I saw one and went, ‘Oh, I bet I could get it into a deer,’ ” she says. “After about six months, my foreman noticed, and he said, ‘That’s cute, do another.’ So I did the snail and the mushroom, and after that I started doing the penguins, and nobody really said anything, so I just kept going along and turning the bushes into things.”