|
City florist brings Tet to US
Vietkieu in California and Hawaii buy up Tet blooms
A HCM City flower farmer has been selling hundreds of mai (apricot) plants to Vietnamese living in the US for Tet, the Lunar New Year.
Nam Dong of Thu Duc District sold 500 last month and hopes to export more this week.
Bringing the yellow flowers home, one of the most important New Year traditions in the south, is believed to bring good luck and well-being.
"The bonsai have been flown to California and Hawaii, the states with a large Vietnamese population," Dong said.
"Just three days ago a Viet kieu from the US bought 150 ochna pots at my garden, each costing VND3 million. The man bought 50 pots last Tet.
"He chose the flowers himself and made the payment immediately after we agreed on the price."
The plants passed through several phases of treatment in his garden before being sent to the US, he said.
"None of the pots have soil. I brush the roots carefully until they look white and clean," Dong said. This is because the soil is not allowed into the US for fear they carry plant diseases.
"Then the plants must be pruned off all leaves and their trunk and branches sprayed with insecticides.
"But making an ochna bonsai survive and bloom during Tet in the US is the most difficult task."
Staying alive
Dong, who has spent over three decades growing ochnas, has researched intensively into keeping the trees alive without soil.
"I lightly wind absorbent cotton around the base and roots of a plant, and water it gradually. This way, the dampness lasts two or three days.
"Viet kieu importers get the bonsai and put the plants along with some soil into pots - the plants start growing."
He also tells his customers to put the pots in a room where the temperature is always between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius.
"At this temperature, the plant will bud and flower."
Helen Tran, a Viet kieu, said: "I'll take an ochna bonsai to decorate my house in California when I leave Viet Nam next week.
"My aged parents will be very happy because for years, we used artificial ochna flowers for Tet."
Bay Son, an experienced ochna grower in Thu Duc District's Linh Dong Village, has also exported ochna plants to the US since 2001.
However, he said: "This year I did not sign any contracts to sell ochna plants to the US.
"Caring for ochna plants for export is a hard job and takes time," he explained.
Instead, he targets the domestic market, preparing to dispatch 4,000 ochna plants to Ha Noi next week.
Viet Nam News
|
