Reading about mass starvation, war, and botany isn’t a normal occurrence for me, but I just finished The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice by Simon Parkin and loved the book.
The Forbidden Garden chronicles the work of dedicated botanists in Leningrad. The botanists created the world’s first seed bank, then defended the seeds and plant material with their lives, and ultimately planted those seeds to feed the people of Leningrad during World War II.
Author Simon Parkin provides a comprehensive recounting of the foundation of the seed bank and the people behind the project. Parkin carefully outlines the work put in to create this repository of plant tissues to feed the people of Leningrad and Russia. This also includes the personal interactions of the scientists, including the politics at play.
In 1941 the German army sieged Leningrad, cutting it off from the rest of Russia. Compounded by a brutally cold winter, the people of Leningrad suffered extreme starvation and constant bombardments by the Germans. Throughout these extreme conditions the staff of the seed bank protected the seeds and other plant materials, with a lot of attention given to the potatoes. They had to keep the seed potatoes above freezing. They had to protect the seeds from the hungry mice and rats that infiltrated the building. And the botanists pledged to never pillage the bank—protecting the plant matter while they themselves were dying of starvation.
After this horrible winter, as the city began to warm, the botanists quickly went to work creating gardens throughout the city. Parks were quickly converted from lawns and shrubs to verdant kitchen gardens. The people of Leningrad embraced home gardening, knowing their garden plot would help feed their families.
The seed bank staff who protected the seeds and tubers at all costs were just as dedicated to getting the people fed using their plant matter. The establishment of a garden plot within range of the front lines was especially illustrative of their perseverance. The land was turned over by hand during the night so that the Germans did not see their activity. Finding old horses to plow the field, the garden was prepared while bombs were exploding around them, maiming some of the staffers, but they did not let that prevent them from planting the entire plot, creating an abundant garden that fed the citizens of the city.
The history of the siege of Leningrad was brutal. Reading the heroic efforts of the staff highlights themes of science, sacrifice and survival against the brutal backdrop of World War II.
For my botany friends, Parkin also visits the Millennium Seed Bank in Kent, England. The bank is part of Kew Gardens. Check it out here: https://www.kew.org/wakehurst/whats-at-wakehurst/millennium-seed-bank
