Landscape with Imagination

From humble beginnings to becoming one of the country’s top designers, John Cullen of Celtic Gardens has mixed intense passion with a no-compromise approach.

By Billy R. Sims

A brisk fall wind rattles the gold and red leaves clinging to the trees outside the home of John Cullen in Dexter, Michigan, as he pulls into his driveway at the end of a hectic workday. The wind swirls the leaves across his path as he walks to the front door. Cullen’s home is notable for an ample stone masonry porch his crew built, which surrounds two sides of the structure. He leans over and releases a stone covering a secret space just under the top step “where I can hide an extra set of keys,” he says, “or better yet, a small bottle of Scotch” for any guest who might have to await his arrival.

John Cullen, Celtic Gardensw

This kind of whimsical detail, he admits during dinner, is a source of pride for his company, Celtic Gardens, which is noted for its Old World stonework. Seated with us are his four young children and wife, Moira. Over fresh pasta and salad, Cullen peppers the conversation with descriptions of design/build projects past and present that span the globe, from Chicago to Singapore. His children aren’t impressed, though, and interrupt him with details of their day, and periodically spring from their chairs to take up toys and more important matters in the den.

Later, with the children in bed and the house quiet except for the sound of the wind, Cullen retreats to his study and mulls over design concepts he’s begun for a Gardening World Cup proposed this year in New York City. Cullen is trying to line up sponsors, designers and a venue for the event, which will be themed “Gardens for Peace” to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Celtic Gardens, the winner of the Total Landscape Care 2011 Landscaper of the Year competition, not only designs and builds landscape projects primarily for residential clients, but also is the winner of numerous awards from garden shows in the United States and abroad.

The balancing act between helping manage his growing family and his involvement in atypical design/build projects far afield from home is a role in which Cullen seems to thrive. “Family defines who I am, and so does my work,” he says. With both, he seems at times a force of nature much like the wind outside his door – intense and passionately involved, undeterred by obstacles.

In some ways, Cullen is unlike previous TLC Landscaper of the Year winners. His business is relatively small in revenue and employees. But the end results of Celtic Gardens’ award–winning design work serve as a wonderful example of how a successful niche can be achieved despite the challenges faced by the landscape industry.

International Influences

Celtic Gardens’ garden show accolades encompass awards of excellence, People’s Choice, gold medals and best in show from noted events such as the Chicago and Philadelphia flower shows, the Singapore Garden Festival and the Gardening World Cup in Nagasaki, Japan.

Celtic Gardens specializes in Old World stonework and period gardens, often importing architectural pieces from abroad.

“Building exhibit gardens at flower and garden shows has proven to be brilliant advertising; they give us an edge in the market,” Cullen says, because they expose his company’s work to an enthusiastic audience of thousands, “and the high level competition challenges you to grow.”

Accompanying Cullen to most of these events is his nephew Mike Cullen, his principal field manager for 20 years. Mike’s expertise is masonry and mosaics, which is evident when I shake his substantial, toughened hand upon greeting him at a tour of a longtime client’s residence in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mike and Cullen appear a perfect match of talents and personalities. Cullen is intense and cerebral, while Mike is laid back and grounded. They alternately describe key features of the landscape they’ve established here during a period of 10 years – intricately built stone retaining walls, which in one section holds an 18th Century grist stone from Scotland; blue stone paths that sometimes employ joinery akin to that of dovetail woodworking; plantings that incorporate an impressive stand of Japanese maples, a bed of carpet juniper woven with creeping red thyme; and unusual choices such as bear’s britches, a form of acanthus, and globe thistle.

“I like to create a story for each garden I design.”

Celtic Gardens specializes in period gardens, which take on themes, from East and West. “I like to create a story for each garden I design,” he says. “We find ourselves replicating and borrowing from classic gardens around the world, be they from a bygone era in Persia or Victorian England. We don’t have to go out and do our own thing. The inspiration is already there.”