Blooming before dawn

For Hanoians, the image of pushcarts laden with flowers on the streets isn’t something new. Still, it’s something that visitors to this 1,000-year-old capital adore and Hanoians miss when they’re away.

The market that has become integral to the city is the Quang Ba predawn flower market held daily on the dike street called Nghi Tam in Tay Ho District.

No one knows or has bothered to find out the exact year the market started.

The flowers sold at Quang Ba Market are grown in the small villages in the capital’s neighboring provinces, such as Bac Ninh and Vinh Phuc.

In a tiny village in Me Linh District of Vinh Phuc Province, in the days leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year), the village can have more than 300 hectares of blooming roses.

Bich, a long-time Me Linh farmer, said like many other flower growers in the area, her entire family depends on whether the flowers blossom late or early.

Her family earns about VND150 million (US$8,600) a year from her specialty, deep pink French roses with long petals and thick leaves.

“The weather and soil in Me Linh is great to grow French roses,” Bich said. “Customers prefer them to roses from Da Lat. A rose can sell for as much as VND8,000 ($0.46) during special occasions.”

Me Linh is also well-known for producing a special type of rose that is a mixture between French roses and eglantine or sweetbriar roses. It’s loved for its soft colors and fragrance.

Bich said caring for roses requires extremely hard work and patience as the flower is very sensitive to bad weather.

For special occasions – days leading up to the International Women’s Day (March 8), Valentine’s Day, or the upcoming Tet holiday – Bich and her husband spend long hours in the field pruning the flowers, wrapping each flower-bud in paper and shielding them from the rain, cold and frost.

Most days, roses are sold wholesale for VND100-200 each. Prices rise a little on the first and 15th days of each month of the lunar calendar, when most Vietnamese like to buy roses for the ancestors altar.

Flower farmers gather at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. each day at the Quang Ba Market. They carry various types of flowers – gladioli, tulips, dahlias, daisies – in baskets tightly nestled behind their bicycle saddles or in their old Hondas.

Quang Ba market has two sessions a day. Between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. is reserved for flower farmers and bulk buyers, mostly from flower shops and street vendors.

These buyers usually know their stuff. They bring a flashlight, wear long sleeves and can figure out exactly which flowers will last the longest.

Tay Tuu Village in Tu Liem District is one of the latest villages in Hanoi to take up flower farming. Tay Tuu farmer Vu Dinh Hoan said he earns a reasonable living growing and selling flowers at the Quang Ba Market.

“I don’t make a lot of profit,” he said. “But what’s best for me is being able to live in colors and nice fragrances almost every day.”

Each day, the market starts to dissolve when the first ray of sunlight appears.

The city wakes up, and the street vendors start carrying flowers to every corner of Hanoi.

It’s another new day.

Source: thanhnien