Jamie Taggart

[David Shaw]

This has just popped up on the BBC; Jamie Taggart has not been seen since 2nd November on a botanising trip to Vietnam.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-25311480

[Maggi Young]

This is very shocking news that we just got here.  The BBC report seems the same as an STV one from slightly earlier this evening  http://news.stv.tv/west-central/252376-jamie-taggart-missing-on-plant-hunting-trip-in-vietnam/

Jamie Taggart, of the Linn Botanic Garden and Nursery, near Helensburgh on the West Coast of Scotland, a very enthusiastic plantsman and particularly interested in Rhododendrons, is a popular  SRGC member who was due to talk to the Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden in Aberdeen this week. It is reported that Jamie has gone missing  some weeks ago on a plant expedition to Vietnam.


How awful  this must be  for his family. We can only hope for a safe outcome for  this sad tale.

[David Nicholson]

Terrible news. I've never met Jamie but have been in regular contact with him as an advertiser.

[TC]

It doesn't sound good but there is always hope.  I remember meeting him years ago at the the Glasgow show at Milngavie.  We went round to Linn gardens a week later and I bought a Cinnabarinum Rhod. from him.  It was a layered cutting which I hope will finally flower this year.

[Richard Green]

Here is a link to the local Argyll news site which gives a little bit more background than the BBC or the national papers:
http://forargyll.com/2013/12/update-on-efforts-to-trace-jamie-taggart/

Jamie was often at the Glasgow Show, and we can only hope that the well-organised searches currently under way produce results.

[ichristie]

This is terrible news  we hope that the search will bring better news, I have known Jamie for about 20 years when he first came to the Glasgow show a great plant enthusiast, cheers Ian the Christie kind.

[David Shaw]

Thank you for posting that link, Richard, it is most useful. I just hope that the searches produce a result for the family.

[Maggi Young]

Searches are being arranged for Jamie - earlier we learned that Ian Sinclair was the contact for this but now we are able to tell you that donations to a search fund can be send to the Friends of the Linn - via Rie Bellamy.

Vietnamese guides are being used to search for Jamie..... . If anyone wants to make a donation, however small, below are the details of how to do so -


Mrs Rie Bellamy
Treasurer
Friends of the Linn
Portkil House,
Kilcreggan,
HELENSBURGH,
G84 0LF

Any donation you feel able to make will be much appreciated :  you are asked  to put "for Jamie" on the back of the cheque.

http://thelochsidepress.com/2013/12/14/funding-appeal-in-search-for-jamie-taggart/

[David Nicholson]

Thanks for that Maggi, donation on it's way.

[arillady]

I have put a link to the BBC report on facebook - it might reach more people that way.

[Maggi Young]

From the Glasgow Herald 15th December :


"An initial five-day search of the area involving 10 people failed to find any trace of him and had to be suspended due to poor weather and an injury to one of the searchers, who suffered a broken ankle. Police have also carried out a search of villages in the area.

Phil Hoolihan, of Ethos Travel in Sapa, a British ex-pat who is helping co-ordinate the search, is today expected to meet national park authorities to obtain permission to search the area more extensively, covering a distance of more than two days from where Taggart was dropped off.

The plan is to search three routes that he may have taken - from Tram Ton to Cong Troi (Heaven Gate), Lai Chau and Khoang Village, which will take four to five days.

An appeal has been launched to raise money to cover the costs of the search, which are estimated at between £1600 to £2000.

New pictures have also been released that show Taggart in ­Vietnam during his last trip there in 2011.

The gardens run by Taggart were founded by his 82-year-old father Dr Jim Taggart, one of the most ­prominent botanists in Scotland.

Ian Sinclair, who has known Jamie Taggart for 25 years and spoke to him the night before he left Scotland, said the priority would be searching gullies and gorges.

He added it was hoped the search party would involve 20 to 25 local men, forest rangers and volunteers.

"We are basically doing our utmost to bring Jamie back," he said. "There are an awful lot of folk who care for him, his father and their garden."

The "missing" posters, which are being distributed in the local area this weekend, show a picture of  Taggart, stating his full name, James Henry Ker Taggart, and that he checked into the Ngoc Anh Guest House in Sapa town on October 30.

It adds: "He left the guest house on the morning of 31 October 2013 via a motorcycle taxi and proceeded to Tram Ton area of the Sapa mountain range.

"James was last seen proceeding in a westerly direction into the mountains. James is a botanist and specialises in the discovery of new species of mountain plants."

It is believed Taggart may have been looking to study and photograph plants at greater altitude than he had explored before.

His passport and rucksack were left behind at the guesthouse.

The area is not considered ­dangerous for travellers and it is thought local people would have sheltered the botanist had they found him in distress.

But concerns are ­growing for his welfare, with the dense temperate rainforest described as ­ difficult terrain and "torrential" rainy conditions over the past few days."

[Maggi Young]

From the Daily Record  website  23rd December :

THE search for a botanist missing in Vietnam is expected to resume tomorrow after being abandoned due to heavy snow.  (http://thelochsidepress.com/2013/12/15/snow-hampers-search-for-jamie-taggart/   )

Local police and the British embassy in Hanoi were informed of his disappearance and searches of the area have been carried out.

Friend and fellow botanist Ian Sinclair, who has been liaising with the search parties, said they had been hampered by horrendous weather.

"The snow is continuing to melt, but there is a massive amount of snow damage to the forest such as collapsed trees," he said.

"The weather has been horrendous, with snow down to Sapa. This is extremely unusual as Sapa is upper tropical rainforest.

"A large group from the national park will be doing an intensive search once the snow melts."

A search due to begin tomorrow will concentrate on four trails inside the forest of Lai Chau and Lao Cai, he said.

[Maggi Young]

A contribution  from the SRGC to the search fund was made on 18th December.

We can only wish the searchers well in their task.

http://thelochsidepress.com/tag/jamie-taggart/   includes news of a little girl giving her savings to the search fund.

[PeterT]

Interesting links. It is a long time since I left The Linn to the care of my little brother. Interesting too to see the pictures of trees I planted and  ponds I dug while he was still at school in England, how he developed the structure of the garden our father and grandmother, then I, laid out. I have not been near the place for about 15 years now....
The last tree our grandmother bought was a Ginko which I see is in his inventory of the garden.

I gather it was our sister Janet who raised the alarm as she keeps in touch with  Jaimie, (correct spelling of his childhood name). Apparently she did not hear from him as expected, then urged  our father to contact the authorities.

[manicbotanic]

Very sad news indeed.
i purchased some very rare plants from various genera from jaimie a few months back.
sadly it seems some may  have been taking advantage of his fathers kind nature whilst jaimie is absent.
luckily the taggart family are back there.It would be a terrible loss if some of these plants that jaimie worked so hard to collect and produce left the linn.
on a lighter note ...never give up on a paris.i bought a rhizome a 5 years ago and it only emerged this year!!