A series of flower markets opened in Ho Chi Minh City on January 16 to serve local residents’ decoration demands for traditional Tet (Lunar New Year) festival.

In addition to three city-level flower markets at 23/9 Park and Le Van Tam Park in District 1 and Gia Dinh Park in Go Vap district, HCM City has allowed traders to sell their flowers at 56 additional vanues.

According to Nguyen Thi Hien Luong, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Transport, the city will organise markets for the first time at Phu Dinh Port and along the Tau Hu channel in District 8.

Besides major flowers for Tet such as apricot blossoms, kumquat, chrysanthemum and orchids, many gardeners and traders from Ben Tre, Long An, Tien Giang and even northern and central provinces are displaying many new and different kinds of flowers, including Mon nhung, Mon do, Thanh Tam and Dai Phu Gia.

Flowers from cold regions like Nhat Tan peach and Da Lat lily are on display at the markets, drawing strong attention from visitors.

According to small traders, prices of Tet flowers are up between 5-10 percent compared with last year.

The additional Tet flower markets will be open until January 22, or the last day of the Year of the Cat./.