About Colin MacDonald MCIHort

I'm Colin MacDonald, an independent horticultural consultant based in the north of Scotland.

I trained at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and hold an HND in Horticulture with Plantsmanship. My career has taken me through Claude Monet's garden at Giverny, where I spent a season working under Gilbert Vahé, and the Royal Parks in London. I then moved to Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute as Head Gardener, responsible for 600 acres including 300 under cultivation, and a team of nineteen gardeners. Most recently I spent three and a half years managing the grounds at Kinross House, a Sir William Bruce landscape and one of the finest surviving formal designs in Scotland.

Alongside the gardens, I worked as a Plant Health and Seeds Inspector for APHA and DEFRA at Heathrow, examining imported plant material for pests and pathogens before it entered the country. It is unusual training for a gardener, and it changed how I look at plant health. Most problems on an estate are visible long before they are obvious, if you know what you are looking at. In 2015 I was part of the team awarded an RHS Chelsea Gold Medal for the 'Beyond Our Borders' biosecurity garden.

I now work with historic estates, gardens, land agents and heritage trusts across Scotland and the UK. My work falls into three areas: Biosecurity & Diagnostics, Heritage Rejuvenation, and Plantsmanship. I do not sell plants, materials or machinery, so the advice I give is independent.