Background
Cushnie was born in Lurgan, County Armagh in May 1943, the son of a factory supervisor.
Cushnie was born in Lurgan, County Armagh in May 1943, the son of a factory supervisor.
He was educated at Lurgan College, before studying at the Greenmount College of Agriculture and Horticulture.
After graduating from Greenmount College, Cushnie began a ten-year career in the civil service in Belfast, working for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. After this, he established a landscape design and contracting company – Cushnie Landscapes. He worked across the United Kingdom, for both the public and private sectors, focussing on creating "traditional" gardens.
The firm had up to 12 employees.
His work with Cushnie Landscapes brought him to the attention of British Broadcasting Corporation Radio Ulster, where he was invited to appear as a gardening expert. Cushnie later became a regular panellist for 15 years on the British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4 programme Gardeners" Question Time.
Mark Damazer, the station"s former controller, said that Cushnie "laced every programme with warmth and joy". He also answered questions for 39 years on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio Ulster"s gardening programmes.
In addition to his radio work and the running of his company he was gardening editor of Ireland"s Homes Interior and Living magazine and was a contributor to the Daily Telegraph.
Ground Cover: a thousand beautiful plants for difficult places (with photographs from The Garden Picture Library, hardcover, 160 pages, Kyle Cathie Limited, 1999, )How to Garden: the only gardening book you will ever need (with photographs by Steven Wooster, hardcover, 192 pages, Angus Books Limited, 2001, )Gardener's Question Time: All Your Gardening Problems Solved (with co-authors Bob Flowerdew, Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness, Anne Swithinbank, illustrations by Bunny Guinness, and photographs from The Garden Picture Gallery and others, paperback, 325 pages, Bookmart Limited, 2005, )How to Prune: techniques and tips for every plant and every season (with photographs by John Swithinbank, hardcover, 256 pages, Kyle Cathie Limited, 2007, )Hedge Man: John Cushnie (with illustrations by Chris Gould and foreword by Bunny Guinness, hardcover, 198 pages, Constable and Robinson Limited, 2010, ).