Geoffrey Smith was born on 31 December 1928 in Barningham Park, Swaledale, North Yorkshire, England, UK. He died on 27 February 2009 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, UK.
He worked for twenty years as superintendent of the Royal Horticultural Society's garden at Harlow Carr, North Yorkshire. He was responsible for creating the Streamside Garden and the Limestone Rock Garden, disproving the doubts of many gardening experts about the plants that would grow this far north in Harlow Carr's poor-quality soil.