President Hồ Chí Minh picks wild orchids to present as gifts to young people. — VNA Archive photo

HÀ NỘI — Football fans across Việt Nam shall turn on their home TV, or get together in a neighbourhood bar with a large screen, or in an open yard of a bia hơi joint to watch U-23 team play against Malaysia, scheduled to take place at Việt Trì Stadium in Phú Thọ Province.

Homeland to the ancient founding fathers of what we call Việt Nam today, Phú Thọ can boast other signature cultural traits, the Hùng King Temple, the UNESCO intangible heritage of hát xoan, a ritual style of singing, or hát ghẹo, festival courting singing. 

For gardeners and orchid lovers, Phú Thọ was where the dendrobium-anosmum var, a variety of orchids was found. The fragrant five-white petal dendrobium was first found by a member of the Central Circus Troupe from Hà Nội, who evacuated to avoid bombing in 1972.

Upon seeing the fragrant beautiful blooms on the old banyan tree by the Cổ Tiết Village, the circus troupers brought them home to Hà Nội, then grew them and circulated around the country ever since. 

FLOWER POWER: Phú Thọ Province is home to the most popular dendrobium anosmum var in Việt Nam. — VNS Photo Mai Đào

A conference on Developing flower cultivation and eco-friendly economy to build the New Country and Civilised city towns, hosted by Việt Nam Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Hà Nội Department of Agriculture and Rural Development was recently held in Hà Nội, attracting more than 200 experts, scientists and garden owners across the country. 

As a tropical country, gardeners in Việt Nam have long had a tradition of growing bonsai and orchids, not only for family decoration, but also for commercial purposes. Nguyễn Bá Toàn, gardener of arguably one of the largest orchid nurseries in the country, was quoted as saying at the conference. "I believe that the flower and bonsai section shall be part of our economy as well as in our daily lives. I believe that in a few year's time, orchid growing shall grow very strong."

The conference also witness the establishment of the Association of Orchids of Việt Nam (AOV) to provide a network and professional guidance to garden owners and new-comers who wanted to start-up their orchid businesses.

Chính Trương, owner of Hoa Lan Resort, and a leader in the orchid cultivation and trading in the country, has been initiating meetings and workshops, bringing the orchids to trade promotion meeting organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a hope to be able to export this orchid to neighbouring countries.

Dendrobium anosum is a pendulous cane orchid, native to Malaysia, Laos, Việt Nam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, it blooms in the spring along the length of the leafless canes and the flowers are very fragrant. 

The new buds appear in late spring and can grow up to 1m long by October the same year, they can be formed into beautiful shapes for flowering the next spring. 

If international visitors come to Phú Thọ for the football games, they can just take a tour to visit the orchid gardens in the province, contemplating the flowers, which are soon to bloom, or take home a little pot to the neighbouring ASEAN countries, where similar climate can accommodate this orchid to grow in the future. — VNS

*Semi final match between Việt Nam and Malaysia takes place at Việt Trì Stadium at 19:00 tonight. Check out Việt Nam News website for the latest.