Mekong Delta prepares flowers for upcoming Tet

Sa Dec city in Dong Thap province is famous for its beautiful flowers (Photo: sggp.org.vn)

 HCM City (VNS/VNA) —  Despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, growers in the two biggest flower villages in the Mekong Delta -- Cho Lach in Ben Tre province and Sa Dec in Dong Thap province --  have been preparing new varieties of flowers for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays.

Different kinds of flowers have been planted on a total area of 100 hectares in Sa Dec City. While Cho Lach is famous for ornamental plants, Sa Dec has over 1,500 varieties of flowers. 

Many kinds of ancient roses from Hai Phong city, Sa Pa (in Lao Cai province) and Thua Thien-Hue province among other provinces, are being studied to introduce them during Tet, according to Sa Dec flower farmers.

The Sa Dec flower village is expected to produce 2.5 to 3 million flower pots of all kinds, including 600,000 rose pots.

In Cho Lach flower village, about 6,000 households from Long Thoi, Tan Thieng, Hoa Nghia, Vinh Thanh, Phu Son, and Hung Khanh Trung B communes in Cho Lach district, are producing ornamental plants.

This year, in addition to the main ornamental plants such as apricot and camellia, locals in the village have invested in imported varieties to meet the demands of customers.

About 17 million products of all kinds are expected from the Cho Lach flower village for Tet.

According to the Economic Department of Sa Dec City, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has decreased sales of ornamental plants in 2020. As the situation has slowly improved, the ornamental plant market is expected to recover, it said.

The head of the “I love purple” association in Sa Dec flower village, Tran Van Tiep, said that despite the reduction in the number of fresh flowers sold, ornamental plants have thrived during this period.

“That being said, flower prices this year are expected to be higher than that of last year,” he added.

“As the coming Lunar New Year is the year of the buffalo, our family has created many ornamental plants in the shape of a buffalo,” said Nguyen Thi Them, who specialises in producing decorative ornamental plants in Cho Lach flower village.

“We usually take orders to make these types of plants due to the high cost. Luckily, we have received many orders from HCM City and neighboring provinces recently. Buffalo-shaped plants are priced at 2 million VND (87 USD) to 10 million VND per plant," she said./.