When Tet Nguyen Dan was still more than a month away, the flower and ornamental plant market was already bustling with peach blossoms and plums from Son La. Small bouquets of branches, rustic shapes, not yet blooming but full of buds, are likened by players to waiting for "wood to bloom", becoming items that attract customers from traditional markets to "online markets".
Son La currently has more than 14,500 hectares of plum and about 5,000 hectares of peach trees. In which, Moc Chau and Van Ho are key growing areas with nearly 4,000 hectares. In addition, localities such as Phieng Khoai, Thuan Chau, Chieng An, Chieng Coi... also have significant areas of plums and peach trees.
In recent years, the market has especially favored long-term plum varieties with large flowers, pure white petals and moldy forest peach blossoms, five-petal pink flowers with large buds. This is also a source of raw materials for people to exploit agarwood branches to sell early before Tet.
Grasping the trend of playing plum blossoms and peach blossoms, many households in the highlands of Son La take the opportunity to prune small branches from perennial gardens. Branches are bundled into sets of 5-10 branches, brought to the lowlands for early consumption, creating additional income during the lean season.
In Hom village, Chieng Coi ward, Ms. Lo Thi Hong said that from the beginning of the crop until now, her family has pruned and sold about 2,000 bundles of plum and peach branches at prices from 10,000-15,000 VND/bundle.
“We only prune small branches the size of chopsticks and fingers on perennial trees, so it does not affect the yield and fruit quality later.Having additional income, the garden still grows well,” Ms. Hong shared.
In the same bustling atmosphere, Ms. Quang Thi Dien, from Pang village, Chieng An ward, said that every week her family sells about 3,000–4,000 sets of agarwood peach and agarwood plum to distributors in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Hung Yen and some neighboring provinces.
The main source of goods is purchased from people in the area. Bamboo branches are rough, with large, even buds, so it is very easy to sell, traders order continuously," Ms. Dien said.
In Chieng Sinh ward, Ms. Tran Thi Luong said that her family exports about 300 sets of plums and super buds of wild peach trees every day.
“The goods mainly serve to decorate living rooms, cafes, and stores.The closer to Tet, the more orders there are, some days it's too late,” Ms. Luong shared.
Ms. Vu Huyen, an online flower seller in Cau Giay district (Hanoi), said that every week she imports from Son La about 600-700 sets of chayote plums and wild peach blossoms.
"Peach blossoms and plums are in season, so buds are very wrong.Customers buy them to put in jars, in just a few days the flowers bloom, they can be played for 10-15 days," Ms. Huyen said.
For flower enthusiasts, the appeal of plums and peach blossoms lies not only in the affordable selling price but also in the feeling of waiting for flowers to bloom, enjoying the rustic beauty of the mountains and forests when Tet comes, Spring returns.
Son La peach blossoms and plums taking to the streets early not only make the flower market bustling before Tet but also open up a stable source of income for many highland households, when branches that were once abandoned are now becoming a sought-after item.
