HCM CITY — Gardeners in HCM City’s Thủ Đức, Gò Vấp and 12 districts and southern provinces are hoping their hard work will pay off during the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday.

"This year, I expect to sell 200 ochna trees and several hundred Vietnamese flowers and plants of different kinds, such as daisies, carnations and roses,” said Năm Căn, owner of a 1,100 sq metre-farm in District 12.

“Traditional flowers seem to be increasingly favoured over foreign hybrids. I hope to sell a pot for VNĐ100,000 (US$4.4) to VNĐ150,000 ($7.7), about 10 per cent higher than last year’s price,” he said. 

Căn’s ochna trees are over a metre high and cost VNĐ2 million ($95) each, while larger ones are VNĐ5 million ($220) to VNĐ10 million ($440). 

For Tết, Căn and his colleagues invested several hundred million đồng in new seeds and other items.

Florist Năm Thành of Lách Market in Bến Tre Province said: “My farm offers 500 ochna blossom trees at prices ranging from VNĐ1.2 million ($53) to VNĐ2 million per tree. Some old bonsai trees sell for VNĐ30 million ($1,500) and are sold to customers from HCM City and Bình Dương and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu provinces.”

"Because of bad weather, many ochna tree flowers opened before Tết. I hope God will bless our farmers and the remaining blossoms will open on time," he said.

Thành delivered his flowers and trees on boats to sell at Bình Đông Wharf in District 8 last weekend.

Farmers in Chợ Lách District in Bến Tre Province are offering eight million flower pots of different kinds, including foreign hybrids like tulips and lilies, a drop of about 10 per cent compared to last year. 

Nguyễn Hoàng Khương, who owns a farm in Đồng Tháp Province’s Sa Đéc City, said he had cultivated more than 700 pots of daisies but lost half of them because of bad weather.

He expects to sell the flowers at about VNĐ50,000-80,000 per pot.   

"We hope to attract people in HCM City who prefer quality flowers, even if they are expensive," he said.

In HCM City’s September 23 Park in District 1, farmers are offering hundreds of thousands of traditional daisies and sunflowers, and quất (kumquat) and peach blossom trees from Hà Nội and Thái Bình, Hải Phòng and Ninh Bình provinces.   

“I am selling 200 quất trees at VNĐ1 million for a quality tree and 300 daisy pots at VNĐ80,000 per pot. I will not be sure about my profit until the last day,” said Trần Thị Nga, a farmer in Gò Vấp Province.

Many flower fairs around HCM City are expected to attract hundreds of local and provincial florists and thousands of residents until the final day of the new year holiday. —VNS