Ho Chi Minh City: Flower farmers look forward to Tet season

With less than a month to go until the Lunar New Year 2025, flower growers in Ho Chi Minh City are facing many concerns. Unpredictable weather conditions have affected the growth of flowers, while the cost of agricultural materials and labor continues to increase, putting great pressure on calculating selling prices to ensure profits.

Photo caption — Thoi An flower village (District 12, Ho Chi Minh City) is one of the prominent flower growing locations, providing a large quantity of flowers for the Lunar New Year market.

According to Tin Tuc reporters, at Thoi An flower village (District 12, Ho Chi Minh City), these days, gardeners are focusing on taking care of, fertilizing and watering flowers so that they will bloom in time for Tet.

At the flower garden of Ms. Huynh Thi Kim Nga, in Thanh Xuan Ward, District 12, we saw Ms. Nga busy tending, watering and fertilizing flower pots to prepare for the Tet market. Ms. Nga said that her family has a tradition of growing ornamental flowers for nearly 20 years. This Tet season, the flower garden is expected to supply about 2,500 pots of various flowers, including periwinkle, lisianthus, cockscomb, ruby chrysanthemum and many other types of flowers.

“This year, the erratic weather and heavy rain have greatly affected the growth of flowers, causing care costs to increase significantly. Many gardeners, including us, are looking for ways to reduce costs and accept low profits so as not to have to increase selling prices, in line with the current difficult economic conditions,” said Ms. Huynh Thi Kim Nga. Similarly, at the flower garden of Ms. Trinh Thi Kim Lan (District 12), many workers are busy taking care of Tet flower pots. According to Ms. Lan, this year her family planted about 8,000 pots of flowers such as chrysanthemums, cockscombs, marigolds, sunflowers, etc., a decrease compared to last year. “In addition to planting and care techniques, weather is a decisive factor in flower yield,” said Ms. Lan.

“This is a seasonal job, I work 8 hours a day and get paid 250,000 VND. Working hours are from 6am to 10am, and from 1pm to 5pm in the afternoon. This job requires meticulousness so as not to damage the main buds. Currently, gardeners are in the peak season so they hire many workers to take care of the flowers, lasting until Tet,” said Nguyen Thi Ngoc Thu, a seasonal worker.