Tet holiday crops of cymbidium orchids, "Queen of orchid", have failed in the resort city of Da Lat in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

Owner of the Anh Quynh Garden cares for a cymbidium orchids

The streets of Da Lat, which is home to many of the world's most exotic cymbidium orchids, sought by orchid lovers all over the world, are usually vivid with thousands of the orchards at this time of the year, but this year the flower is a rare sight.

In previous years, many streets including Hung Vuong, Quang Trung, Da Lat Market and Xuan Huong lakeside were flooded with hundreds of flowers, especially cymbidium orchids. A branch of cymbidium orchid was sold at VND300, 000-350,000 (US$15-18).

However, this year’s price is more than VND1 million (US$50) for a branch because of the short supply.

According to the Da Lat Orchid Association, the reason is irregular weather and rotten root disease.

Because of a large amount of rainfall, many cymbidium orchids had already bloomed up to two months before Tet, said Mr. Doan Van Quynh, owner of the Anh Quynh Garden.

Therefore flower-lovers are buying yellow and orange imported orchids for VND700, 000 to VND VND1, 300,000 (US$35-65), an increase of 30 percent over the last year.

Other kinds of Vietnamese orchids cost VND150,000 – 250,000 per branch, a 30-50 percent rise over last year.

In spite of high prices, most orchids were reserved by people in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Lat several months ago, said owners of flower gardens in Da Lat.