Da Lat is eager for the Opening ceremony of Flower Festival 2007 with the exhibition of thousands of flowers. From the huge of glass houses of Dalat Hansfarm company located on Nguyen Tu Luc (Ward 8), dozens of varieties of flowers are blooming. Each house plants one type of flower, leading to the production of a special aroma.
Visiting the kingdom of roses, visitors will have chance to enjoy many different types of rose such as red, yellow, white and pink roses. Da Lat’s traditional roses have only 15-20 petals, imported roses from Indonesia and Netherlands here often has 36-40 petals. Some blossoms are very small like a marble, others are as huge as a water-cup with the length of more than 1.5 metres.
Many visitors confessed that they have never seen such beautiful blossoms. Dalat Hansfarm already succeeded in creating new types of carnation with many light colours such as white and pink. The company also imported many foreign flowers from Hong Kong and Taiwan to diversify their products.
Da Lat’s people started planting flowers in the early 19th century. Many flower villages have been formed since then such as Ha Dong, Da Thien and Trai Ham.
Hansfarm brought high technology flower farming including glasshouse systems with climate control, water pumps and cost-efficient fertilizer and pesticide, even having the ability to control insects and worms and prevent diseases, producing high-quality flowers (charming colour, unique variety and long life). Their prices are also 3-5 times higher. With a farming area of tens of ha, Dalat Hansfarm is the largest flower farming company in Southeast Asia. Flowers of Dalat Hansfarm have been exported to many countries such as Japan, Korea, and Singapore, bringing a considerable revenue of VND60 billion each year, of which revenues from grafted flower was about VND30 billion- a huge number that Da Lat’s flower farmers never thought possible in the past.
Da Lat peasants quickly learned from the company and invested money in building small facilities for state-owned enterprises. Now there are more than 1,000 business households building glasshouses and net-houses to grow flowers.
There are large flower farms with thousands of square metres, such as Langbia farm owned by Ms Van Thi Tam and Flower farm of Mr Nguyen Chi Bao. Farming land’s orchid - queen is very profitable. The orchid farming association of Da Lat obtained a sales contract to export orchids to the United States, raising demand for Vietnam’s flower exports. With its advantages of natural conditions and experience in farming flowers and 200 varieties (five types were developed first in Vietnam), it is likely that Da Lat will become the largest centre of farming flowers in Vietnam.
Recently, the foreign and domestic press have spread the news on the discovery and successful multiplication of the variety of endemic pink orchid of Vietnam from the young doctor Duong Tan Nhut, deputy director of the Da Lat Biology Sub-Institute. He volunteered in a programme to find this variety of orchid in a remote mountainous area in Khanh Vinh (the border between Lam Dong and Ninh Thuan Province) and carried out asexual reproduction of this pink orchid. The reproduction of this rare flower is significant because it is a special flower of Vietnam that is not easy to grow and reproduce. Apart from this pink orchid, all of his 40 scientific works at international level have started research on new types of flowers. In ten years, Doctor. Nhut has conducted a thorough research project to turn the ugly and variant Lily flower into a valuable flower on the world market. Mr Nhut has been honoured as a young Vietnamese making a great contribution to the country.
During the coming flower festival, purple phoenix flowers - a symbolic flower and the pride of Da Lat will also be exhibited. The father of this flower- Mr Luong Van Sau, a skilled horticulturist, already passed away due to his poor health and old age. He was born and raised in Tinh Bien (Chau Doc District, An Giang Province). Then, he went to France to study at the University of Agriculture and went to many other countries to research agronomy. In 1962, Mr Sau returned from France, bringing the Jacarada Mimosaefolia seed with him, and carefully sowed and grew it on a street (now called Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street). When the tree blossomed, the flower had deep blue violet colour and looked like a phoenix flower, so it was called violet phoenix flower. This kind of tree cannot naturally reproduce, it needs a pollination from a bird which is not found in Vietnam. Mr Sau continued his research for years to find methods to graft and multiply the seed of that flower. In addition, he is also the father of some other trees, including the unique Vong Ke flowers in front of Palace Hotel, beautiful mountain lotus on Ly Tu Trong Street, and yellow bluebell at the Quan The Am Pagoda on Huyen Thanh Quan Street.
Da Lat has been receiving much attention, support and investment from domestic and foreign organisations and individuals, with financial assistance of billions of Vietnam dong for planting green trees. Accordingly, Da Lat has donned a new face of mimosa, five-petal cherry, violet phoenix flower, pines, violet, Ngoc Thao, petunia and impatiens wallerana, making the city more and more beautiful and charming. Especially, thanks to the financial support of Ho Chi Minh City, Da Lat People's Committee and the provincial General Department of Tourism have already sought out Mai Anh Dao and brought 200 from the forest to the city and planted them around Xuan Huong Lake, the heart of Da Lat City. The first buds of these flower trees are growing. The prospect of Xuan Huong Lake being covered with Mai Anh Dao flowers is coming true.
Huong Tra
Vietnamese
