Jim McColl

James Hamilton McColl, MBE (1935 – 22 October 2024) was a Scottish horticulturalist, writer and garden presenter. He was one of the original presenters of BBC Scotland's flagship gardening programme Beechgrove. McColl co-presented the programme for 41 years, becoming the BBC's longest serving garden presenter.

Background McColl was born in 1935 in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire. He grew up in a horticulturally minded family. His father Tom McColl was responsible for gardening responsibilities as the manager of Helensburgh Town Council’s parks department. He first learned about farming from his uncles, an aunt was a market gardener, and another uncle was a forester. During the summer he would spend time working at his aunt Mary's garden or on a rose production nursery.

In 1959 he married his wife Billie. - Jim McCollIn 1973, he worked with the Glen Garioch distillery to create a waste energy programme to utilize residual heat from whisky cooling to grow tomatoes. His appearance on Tomorrow's World was said to have impressed BBCs executives, who at the time were considering developing a television programme based on Scottish gardening.

Beechgrove Filming at Beechgrove in 2012. McColl is pictured at far right in the image. In 1978, McColl and George Barron were announced as the first presenters of The Beechgrove Garden, a new BBC gardening program inspired by a gardening show based in Boston, Massachusetts. The programme featured gardening specific to Scotland's northern climate, becoming an instant hit with audiences.

McColl and Barron's on-screen chemistry and popularity with viewers turned them into celebrities in Scotland, with Beechgrove being parodied on the popular Scottish comedy programme Scotch and Wry. Beechgrove subsequently launching the Beechgrove Gardener's Roadshow, a travelling roadshow and the Beechgrove Potting Shed, a gardening radio programme to reach more gardeners across the country.

McColl continued to co-present Beechgrove for the next 41 years, with a four-year interruption in the late 1980s, when he was "unceremoniously removed" from the programme.

Horticultural advocacy In 1988, he began to campaign for the development of a National Garden for Scotland, similar to the Royal Horticultural Society gardens in England such as Wisley. The project, named "The Calyx" aimed to showcase the best of Scottish gardening and create horticultural jobs. In 2015, after 25 years of campaigning, the project was ultimately shelved after experiencing setbacks and a lack of funding. He cited the failure of the project as one of his biggest regrets.

Beginning in the 1990s, McColl wrote a weekly gardening column for the Aberdeen Press and Journal. He regularly advocated for increased recognition of Scotland's horticultural industry, campaigning for gardening's support in horticultural therapy, healthy living and social integration.

Retirement McColl retired from Beechgrove in 2019, when diminishing grip strength from neuropathy made it difficult for him to present gardening techniques on the programme.

McColl retired from writing his weekly gardening column in 2022. He died on 22 October 2024, at the age of 89.

Awards 1982 Scottish Horticultural Medal 2000 The Royal Horticultural Society Gold Veitch Memorial Medal 2020 Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Publications The Beechgrove Garden: a booklet of advice on vegetable growing by Jim McColl and George Barron. Glasgow. BBC Publications: 1980. The Beechgrove Garden: a month-by-month guide to gardening in Scotland by Jim McColl and Carole Baxter. Glasgow. BBC Publications: 1988.