In 1926, Carl D. Johnson was born in Lansing, Michigan. He was the second of three children born to Ruben and Ethel Johnson. During World War II, he served as a Navy Corpsman. After the war, he graduated from Michigan State University in 1951 with degrees in landscape architecture and urban planning.

After graduation, Johnson worked for Lambert Landscape Company in Dallas, Texas from 1951 to 1953. In 1955, he relocated to Detroit and worked for Edward E. Eichstedt and became a partner in 1958 to 1961. After leaving Eichstedt, Johnson teamed up with his brother, William Johnson, and former co-worker, Clarence Roy, and created the new partnership of Johnson, Johnson, and Roy (JJR) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Over the next thirty years, Johnson’s work with JJR focused on landscape preservation, focusing on the reuse of historic landscapes.

In 1960, Johnson began teaching at the University of Michigan as a visiting lecturer and became a full professor of landscape architecture in 1964. He retired from the University of Michigan in 1989 and was named Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture.

Johnson died in Ann Arbor on October 24, 2010, at the age of 84.