Dong Thap Province’s Sa Dec City, the “flower kingdom” of the Mekong Delta, has become even more hectic with flower sales for Tet, which begins on Jan 31.

Unlike several other flower cities nationwide, Sa Dec’s fields yield flowers all year around. Some hundred breeds of flowers bloom throughout the city, creating stunning spectacles for visitors. Gorgeous flowers can be seen along highways, paths, in flooded fields, and even around the Sa Dec Industrial Zone.

Now, as Tet is only some days away, the city is particularly full of commotion and activity. During the month before Tet, local farmers are always busy with preparations.

Nguyen Van Phuoc, 57, who has been in the flower growing business for 10 years, said his fields produce around 10,000 baskets of various types of flowers each week. He added that other farmers have even larger harvests.    Locals reveal that flowers cannot grow to their full potential without being watered by the local silk-laden river water.

Everyone grows flowers

Flower farming and trading in Sa Dec have thrived so robustly that many farmers run their own shops to sell their products, with some even launching large-scale businesses.

One such farmer is Quach Kim Ngan, 44, of Tan Qui Dong Ward. Ngan, who began growing flowers some 20 years ago, has supplied his products to Ho Chi Minh City in the past ten years, particularly to the southern hub’s Dam Sen Park.

Also in the past decade, he has run a café, which showcases around 100 species of gorgeous flowers and ornamental plants. The only one of its kind in the city, the café draws locals from the neighborhood as well as tourists.

Ngan said he and his family are enthusiastic and hopeful that Sa Dec, which became a province-level city late last year, will grow into a tourist hub with even brighter business prospects. He is planning to make repairs to his café and expand his flower trading company to take advantage of the growing interest in the city.

Artisan-farmer Ngo Thanh Binh, 36, and his wife have grown lotuses and water lilies – signature flowers of Dong Thap Province – inside the Sa Dec Industrial Zone for several years.

According to Binh, there are several species of lotuses, but the province’s pink lotuses are unrivalled for their attractive pink color, large bloom size, high adaptability, and long life, even when in vases.

“As a Sa Dec native, I know how to grow all kinds of plants and flowers. I used to produce bonsai, but saw an opportunity in lotuses as the city is becoming a tourist destination. So I switched to lotuses, which are in high demand by other provinces,” Binh shared.

40-year-old Nguyen Hoang Chi Hieu, chair of the Sa Dec Bonsai Club, is one of the city’s renowned bonsai artisans.

After graduating from high school, he left for HCMC and did odd jobs for a living. But he later returned to his hometown and has earned a decent living with his bonsai farm.

His farm boasts over 1,000 bonsai trees of various kinds. He takes particular pride in his huge “can thang” bonsai.

“I bought this tree in 1998 for VND38 million (US$1,833). It now fetches some VND700 million ($33,770). I got a price offer of VND500 million, but I won’t sell it. I want to keep it for my city,” Hieu shared.

The developing flower city

Sa Dec is geographically positioned between the Tien and Hau rivers (the Mekong River sections that pass through southern Vietnam). Most provincial leaders and experts agreed at recent meetings that Sa Dec will grow into a tourist city by combining its stunning flower resources and huge ecotourism potentials typical of Mekong Delta provinces. Therefore, the Sa Dec flower city will be a far cry from its Da Lat counterpart in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

The city is planning to zone its flower farming areas in Tan Qui Dong and Tan Khanh Dong Communes and to build a flower square and street.

Its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is also working with scientists from across the country on plans to form joint ventures with internationally-famous flower producing enterprises such as Japan’s Sakata Taki, Europe’s Syngenta, Benary, and Floranova, and the US’s Ball.

For now, the department will cooperate with the HCMC University of Science on scientifically identifying several of the city’s flower breeds to better conserve and develop them.

In 1867, Sa Dec County was formed. Various breeds of flowers from France and other countries gradually made their way there, transforming it into “Le Jardin de la Cochinchine” (The Garden of southern Vietnam).

According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sa Dec farmers grew 355 hectares of flowers in over 2,000 varieties and supplied them to other provinces and Laos, Cambodia, and China in 2013. Revenues from flower trading make up over 35 percent of the city’s agricultural values.

The latest statistics reveal that nearly 2,000 households in Sa Dec engage in flower farming.

“Flower buffs here are innumerable. Up to around two thirds of the city population know how to grow flowers and bonsai,” said Hieu.