Nigel Dunnett

Professor Nigel Dunnett, one of the most influential voices in contemporary planting design, died on 26 April 2026 at the age of 63. We are honoured to have published his definitive book on naturalistic planting and remain committed to keeping his work in print and in conversation.

Nigel held the chair of Planting Design and Urban Horticulture at the University of Sheffield, where he spent his career arguing — and proving — that ecology and beauty belong in the same sentence. His landscapes combined rigorous science with what colleagues described as a painterly approach: meadows that performed across long seasons, urban plantings that worked with climate rather than against it, and public spaces that made room for both people and wildlife.

His work transformed how cities think about green space. As lead planting design consultant for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London 2012, working alongside James Hitchmough, he helped establish a global benchmark for ecologically intelligent public landscape. The Sheffield Grey to Green project turned a stretch of urban infrastructure into living habitat. His reimagining of the Barbican Beech Gardens brought new seasonal depth to one of London's most recognisable spaces. In 2022 he designed the wildflower planting in the Tower of London moat — half a million flowers in a place that had been bare ground for nearly a thousand years.

He won six Gold medals on the Main Avenue at Chelsea Flower Show between 2010 and 2025, including a garden for the RHS itself. He was an RHS Ambassador, a Royal Designer for Industry, and a Lifetime Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Through Pictorial Meadows, the company he founded, he made the science of urban meadow planting available to councils, designers and gardeners across the world.

For Filbert Press, Nigel wrote what became the defining book on his subject. Naturalistic Planting Design: The Essential Guide was awarded First Prize at the European Garden Book Awards in 2019. It remains the most thorough, generous and practical account of how to plant ecologically — written for designers, gardeners, students and anyone who wants their garden to do more than look beautiful.

The book is his clearest legacy in print. We will continue to publish it.