A Wealth of Flowers

Anna Bøg was an avid gardener and there were many admirers of her garden at the women's mission station in Siuyen.

In a 1937 publication, the Young Women's Christian Association wrote that the women's station's "delightful garden with its wealth of flowers is a pleasure and encouragement after long, exhausting work days."

Anna Bøg sent the above picture of her potted lotus plant (center back, with the big pad-like leaves) to her sister Elizabeth in Iowa. The building appears to be the old women missionaries' residence, which dates the picture to sometime prior to 1932. Anna Bøg wrote on the back, "Here you see the lotus flower. The man to the right is the cook and the other man is the gatekeeper." Since a lotus with leaves like this is a Nelumbo, which is an aquatic plant like a water lily, one supposes it must have been growing in a tub of water.

Later, during World War II -- when there was a serious shortage of food -- Anna Bøg grew fruit, vegetables, and grain to help feed herself and the few women she still had in her care. The various foods that she grew were a great blessing since many of the missionaries in other parts of Manchuria developed beri-beri during this period of time for want of vitamin B.

During World War II, the Germans occupied Denmark and Japan occupied Manchuria. D.M.S. had difficulty in getting funds to the missionaries in Manchuria. Rev. Niels Buch, the chairman of D.M.S.'s Manchurian missions, transferred whatever funds could be made available for the few remaining missionaries in Siuyen to Anna Bøg who then disbursed the monies and reported on the disbursements by letter to Rev. Axel Christensen in Dairen, who was the treasurer.

By this time, Anna Bøg was the only remaining missionary at the mission station (both the men's and women's stations), although a missionary physician -- Dr. Marie Nielsen -- and several missionary nurses were still at Siuyen Hospital, which was some distance from the mission station.

In these accounting letters, Anna Bøg included bits of news and often spoke of her garden. Here are some of the comments she made about her gardening in these letters. The sister-in-law of Axel Christensen to whom she refers was Mrs. Helga Christensen:

June 11, 1943 - "Now it is really wonderful summertime here in the mountain valley. We are in the middle of the strawberry season. You can eat them without sugar and we do -- three times a day. In a patch of soil in my garden, I have rye. It is interesting to see how fast it grows. It was sown after Ching-ming, April 5, and now you find ears on the straw. They say, 'It will ripen before the rainy season.' I have also so many beautiful flowers. How summer is a marvelous time."

July 2, 1943 - "Now it is real summer weather, intense heat and rather dry. We had a whole month with strawberries."

August 10, 1943 - "Everything around here is so vigorous it promises to be a good harvest. Our gardens are also luxuriant: All May I had strawberries, July raspberries and blackberries, red currants and black currants, and at present ripe gooseberries and before long the grapes will be ready. I have four sorts. Last year I dried them and had lovely raisins. Many ripe figs are on their way. 'My little garden is like a hothouse,' as your sister-in-law says. Often visitors come to see the flowers."

May 4, 1944 - "Wish you could see how pretty my little yard is full of blooming trees. It is admired by everyone. Now I am both housekeeper and gardener. I had to let my good servant go because the wages raised so high."

June 18, 1944 - "The garden takes all my spare time, but gives me lots of joy, not to speak of all the good things: fruit and vegetables for my table. A lot of my strawberries [were] stolen. Although I am behind a tall wall, they climbed over the wall."

July 28, 1944 - "I am busy weeding my garden, but enjoy the work in the sun and fresh air. My tomatoes are just wonderful."

April 21, 1945 - "I am busy with garden work. To hire a man a day costs 40.00 or more."

The letter of April 21, 1945 was the last accounting letter. A reporter for the Cedar Falls Record who interviewed Anna Bøg in October, 1947, however, wrote about an incident involving Anna Bøg's garden in Siuyen during World War II:

"She spent the long hours in the summer working in her flower and vegetable garden, for she depended on what she could raise to vary her extremely meager rations. She [raised] lovely flowers . . .

"Once she had a particularly beautiful lily blooming on her verandah. One of the Japanese [officials] whom she learned had a particular love for flowers happened around at that time. He sat quietly on her verandah for a long time, and then asked if he might have the lily.

" 'I shall send it to you by my servant,' Miss Madsen told him . . ."

One wonders if the "particularly beautiful lily" was a lotus. In any event, at that time, Anna Bøg was having difficulty keeping the Japanese from commandeering the mission station. She had no servants. Rather, she was doing all the gardening and maintenance work herself, while providing a home for an elderly Bible Woman, Mrs. Kuo, a blind Bible Woman, and a deaf girl. It seems likely that this was a clever maneuver by Anna Bøg to distance this Japanese official and very doubtful that she ever delivered the lily . . .

Sources:
Bøg-Madsen, Anna; letters to Axel Christensen, 1940s, from the D.M.S. archives at the Rigsarkivet (Danish National Archives).
Turnbull, A.B.; "Anna Madsen Survives under [Japanese] Rule, to Return to Manchuria Soon," Cedar Falls Record; October 25,1947; pp. 1, 5. Courtesy of Casey Welch.
Young Women's Christian Association, Vest-Øst, 1910-1935, (Kristelig Forening for Unge Kvinder, 1935), p. 64.

Image:
Anna Bøg's lotus flower. Courtesy of Casey Welch.