Recent hot weather has distressed cherry blossom farmers in flower villages in the North, because it has caused a lot of their cherry trees to blossom too early before Tet (Lunar New Year) on February 14.

A cherry blossom farm in Hanoi (Photo: SGGP)

Gardener Le Xuan Thanh said, “If it keeps sunny for two or three more days, there will be no flower buds left on the trees. When the Tet comes, all the trees will have shed their blossoms, so no one wants to buy them.”
 
Most of the cherry blossoms, a flower used commonly for Tet decoration in the North, have already bloomed in Phu Thuong and La Ca flower villages of Hanoi. Many bloomed three weeks ago.
 
Farmers make most of their cherry tree sales in the week before Tet. Buyers look for trees that are budding so they bloom when the New Year begins. Early blooming means less profits for farmers who have to invest about a billion dong to plant 200-300 cherry trees.
 
Nguyen Thi Son, a cherry blossom gardener in La Ca, said it is gardeners’ biggest worry when the flower blooms early. She said it wasn’t a problem if the flowers bloom late because farmers can induce them to bloom for the Tet, but if they bloom early there is nothing they can do.
 
Up to 80 percent of cherry blossoms in Phu Thuong have already bloomed.
 
Cherry blossom villages in Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Nam Dinh, Bac Ninh and Thanh Hoa provinces have also seen early blooms of cherry trees.