Horticulturist and broadcaster. Born in Kilmarnock, the son of a parks superintendent, McColl trained at the West of Scotland Agricultural College. He spent time working in horticulture in England before joining the North of Scotland College of Agriculture at Craibstone in 1973. Five years later he was appointed by the Glengarioch Distillery to manage a novel waste-energy project which heated greenhouses. In the same year he was invited to present a new gardening show for BBC Scotland - the Beechgrove Garden broadcast from Aberdeen. This was successful beyond all expectations and led to a career in broadcasting and media, and he was invited to setup a Public Relations Division for Morrison Bowmore Distillers in Glasgow. Although he retired from Beechgrove Garden in 2019, he continued to write a gardening column for Aberdeen's Press & Journal newspaper until 2022.
He had also been a Trustee of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, and had significant involvement with the National Trust for Scotland. His honours include an MBE (1996), the Royal Horticultural Society Gold Veitch Memorial Medal (2000) and a Royal Television Society Scotland award (2016).
McColl lived in Oldmeldrum (Aberdeenshire).
