The hobby of admiring apricot blossoms on Tet

As Tet approaches, spring arrives, and the flower market becomes bustling with a myriad of colors. Besides peach and kumquat trees with unique shapes and forms, this year, the apricot blossom market also attracts the attention of many flower and ornamental plant enthusiasts.

Binh Dinh yellow apricot trees are widely sold on the streets of Viet Tri City.

Apricot blossoms are a symbol of spring for Southern people during the traditional Tet holiday. However, with cultural exchange and development, people in the province have developed a preference for both peach and apricot blossoms during Tet. Based on the growing demand from customers, many traders have “taken the trouble” to transport apricot pots from southern provinces and cities to cater to the passion of the people of the Land of Ancestors.

Along Hung Vuong and Tran Phu streets, in the Spring flower market area of Viet Tri City, one can easily spot bright yellow apricot pots for sale. At the yellow apricot flower selling point on Tran Phu Street, Gia Cam Ward, there were quite a lot of customers stopping by to see, ask for prices, and buy apricot flowers.

Mr. Tran Van Huy, an apricot flower trader, said, "This is the first year I have brought 200 yellow apricot trees from Binh Dinh Province to sell in Viet Tri, mainly large apricot trees from 1 meter and up, aged from 5 to 10 years. The apricot trees are all numbered, with their height, width, and shape clearly marked for customers to choose from easily. The prices of the apricot trees range from 1.8 million to 6.9 million/tree. The price of apricot trees varies depending on the shape of the tree, its age, and the quality of the flowers. The more unique, unique, and beautiful the tree is, the higher the price.

According to the assessment of yellow apricot traders, this year the weather is favorable, so most of the apricot trees are in the bud stage, preparing to bloom in the days before Tet. At this time, the purchasing power of yellow apricot trees tends to increase day by day, although it has not yet reached the expectations of small traders; there are many positive signs.

Answering customers' questions about concerns that taking care of apricot trees will be difficult because they are not suitable for the weather in the North, Mr. Huy, as well as many yellow apricot traders, instruct that customers buying trees need to pay attention to providing enough water; the tree will bloom evenly and have long-lasting color. If taken care of carefully, it can be played until the end of January.

Bonsai yellow apricot trees cost from VND250,000 to 350,000/tree and are the choice of many customers during this year’s Lunar New Year.

Focusing on selecting and buying bonsai yellow apricot trees with criteria of beautiful, compact, balanced, harmonious shape with prices ranging from VND250,000 to 350,000/tree, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Huong from Van Co Ward, Viet Tri City, said: "In recent years, in addition to peach and kumquat trees, I often choose to buy a pot of yellow apricot trees to place on the coffee table to enhance the home’s space and hope that the new year will bring peace, prosperity, and good luck to my family."

Unlike the yellow apricot variety that prefers warm weather, the Nhat Chi Mai prefers the cold, freezing winter. In the midst of a forest of flowers and ornamental plants with all kinds of domestic and foreign flowers, the smallness, softness, and purity of the Nhat Chi Mai flower makes many people pay attention and stop to watch.

Viet Hang Garden has over 200 pots of mai flowers, serving the Tet flower hobby of the people of the Land of Ancestors at the 2025 Viet Tri Spring Flower Market.

For 6 consecutive years, Viet Hang Garden, in An Hoa village, Tan Linh commune, Ba Vi district, Hanoi city, has opened a stall selling mai flowers at the Viet Tri Spring Flower Market. Mr. Bui Anh Viet, the garden owner, said: In the past 3 years, the trend of people buying mai flowers to display on Tet has increased 2-3 times compared to previous years. This year, in addition to the stall at the Viet Tri Spring Flower Market, I opened another point of sale in Zone 12, Thanh Mieu Ward, to help people directly see and view the flowers more easily. Hopefully, this year the amount of flowers sold will reach about 300 trees, an increase of 50 trees compared to 2024.

Regarding the quality of mai flowers this year, Mr. Viet said: Thanks to favorable weather, mai flowers have beautiful shapes, many buds, and many flowers. The price of mai chi ranges from 300 thousand VND to tens of millions of VND/tree, in which the price segment from 300,000 VND to 3 million VND is the most popular.

Compared to other types of flowers, mai chi has a plus point because of the color change during the blooming cycle. Initially, the flower buds are dark pink; when the flowers bloom, the flowers are pure white, evenly spaced, overlapping each other. Especially when the flowers fade, the flower spacing will gradually turn red.

The uniqueness and diversity of the flowers have brought a fresh vibe to Tet. However, most flower traders in general and mai flower traders in particular all commented that this year, due to the general difficulties of the economy, customers are also more cautious about spending. Compared to last year, at this time, purchasing power is slower; it is expected that after December 23, the purchasing power of flowers and ornamental plants will increase. No matter which flower is chosen for decoration, the beauty and fragrance of the flowers bring a warm, vibrant spring atmosphere to welcome a new year of peace, abundance, and prosperity.

Ha Nhung