TẾT FLOWERS: Hundreds of pots of raspberry flowers in Sa Đéc Flower Village in Đồng Tháp Province’s Sa Đéc City are ready to be delivered to the market for Tết. VNA/VNS Photo by Nguyễn Văn Trí

CỬU LONG DELTA – Well-known flower villages in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta are ready to provide various varieties of flowers and ornamental trees for Tết (Lunar New Year), which falls on January 22 this year.

Sa Đéc Flower Village in Đồng Tháp Province’s Sa Đéc City, one of the delta’s largest flower growing areas, is preparing to supply 2 million pots of more than 2,000 varieties of flowers, bonsai trees, and ornamental trees for Tết.

Apart from popular flowers such as chrysanthemum and marigold, the village has 50 types of imported roses.

The highlights of the village are ornamental trees over 100 years old, such as starfruit tree, fig tree, and ochna.

Farmer Trần Văn Thà in Tân Đông Khánh Commune is growing more than 1,600 pots of raspberry chrysanthemum.

Meanwhile, farmer Đặng Võ Trần Khang in Tân Quy Đông Ward expects to supply more than 1,000 pots of hundreds of varieties of mini ornamental trees such as cactus and succulents.

He said customers have a lot of interest in those kinds of ornamental trees because they are small and colourful, and easy to plant.

Võ Thị Bình, vice chairwoman of the city’s People’s Committee, said the city would invest in new technologies to grow more new varieties of flowers to serve domestic big markets such as HCM City, Cần Thơ City, and central and northern provinces, and to export as well.

HARD AT WORK: A farmer in Bến Tre Province’s Chợ Lách District is preparing confetti flowers for Tết. VNA/VNS Photo by Huỳnh Phúc Hậu

In Bến Tre Province’s Chợ Lách District, farmers will provide more than 12 million pots of flowers and ornamental plants to the market, an increase of four million pots compared to last year.

Trần Minh Sơn, head of the district’s ornamental plants association, said farmers in the districts were preparing to deliver traditional Tết flowers from the southern region such as marigold, raspberry chrysanthemum, cockscomb and confetti flowers to the market.

He added Chợ Lách is famous for varieties of chrysanthemum, mai (ochna), bonsai trees and different kinds of ornamental trees such as calamansi tree to meet customers’ demand for Tết.

Farmer Phạm Văn Màu in Vĩnh Thành Commune is growing more than 3,500 pots of confetti flowers which are ready to be delivered to the market.

Among them, there are special products such as a pot with confetti in five colours or Indian confetti which can change into different colours in a day.

Màu also prepares 50 large confetti pots costing from VNĐ15 million to over 100 million (US$643-4,290) each pot.

Trần Hữu Nghị, deputy head of the Chợ Lách District’s agriculture and rural development office, said many farmers proactively introduced their products on social media and e-commerce platforms to seek buyers. Around 60 per cent of the district’s products for Tết were pre-ordered by sellers and customers. – VNS