Make life more beautiful

Ms. Phan Thi Thanh next to the flower beds she takes care of herself. Photo: TUAN ANH

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Anyone who has ever traveled on Highway 37, passing through Hong Phong commune, will surely be surprised by a field of flowers with many different types and brilliant colors. Many people stop to look, admire and take pictures at this flower field.

Mr. Nguyen Nhu Tuan (3rd from left) in Doan Ket village, Hong Phong commune (Nam Sach) introduces his family's flower growing model to leaders of some departments and branches of the province.

For over 30 years, every day, Mrs. Thanh has diligently gone to the fields to take care of the flowers. Mrs. Thanh said that if she doesn't go to the flower fields one day and see with her own eyes how they grow, she won't feel at ease. She compares the flower fields to her children, who need to be fertilized, watered, and caught insects every day... She often worries and can't sit still when the weather changes... To have those lush flower fields, Mr. Tuan and Mrs. Thanh have to stay up late and wake up early, knowing by heart the characteristics of each type of flower.

Pointing to the flower field, Mrs. Thanh introduced, there are white chrysanthemums, yellow chrysanthemums, single chrysanthemums, and carnations, each flower has several varieties with different colors, shapes, and characteristics. In addition to the traditional flowers grown for many years, they also search for and bring some flowers from other lands to adjust to the land and climate of Hai Duong .

Lisianthus flowers are grown in the flower garden of Mr. Nguyen Nhu Tuan's family.

One of the flowers that almost no family in Hai Duong grows is carnation, but her family grew it 5 years ago.

The flower is not tall, the stem, leaves and petals are fragile and easily crushed, so Mrs. Thanh's family prefers to plant it in a plastic frame. Around May - June, the grandparents put down money to buy the seeds, then the garden owner sows the seeds, nurtures the plants in pots until they are big enough, then transfers them to her family. The technique for planting the lisianthus is also more careful than other types. As a flower that prefers cool weather, when planting, measures must be taken to protect against heat and rain to limit crushing.

In late March and early April, when lilies bloom, it signals the arrival of summer. However, Mr. Tuan and Mrs. Thanh’s family have broken that rule by growing lilies and letting them bloom all year round. To do so, they have applied a number of techniques in flower growing.

After purchase, the lily bulbs will be kept in a cold storage at 8 degrees for 2 months, then planted. About 3 months after being planted in the soil, the bulbs will flower. The reason for keeping the bulbs in a cold storage is to shorten the growth time when planted in the soil and to facilitate flower bud differentiation.

After harvesting, the grandparents fertilize the plants to create nutrients for them to flower all year round. This type of flower is welcomed by customers because it is unique and strange when it appears out of season.

The people have been growing the morning glory for a long time, but only a few trees, not on a commercial scale. At first, Mr. Tuan only planted a small area to test the market demand. When he saw that customers increasingly liked this type of flower, not only for entertainment but also for cooking, he proactively expanded the area to 2 hectares, at the same time providing technical guidance and organizing consumption for some households in the village and commune.

Mr. Tuan's family's field always has many kinds of flowers blooming brightly.

When the number of households growing increased, in October 2024, Mr. Tuan established the Thien Ly Doan Ket Cooperative with 9 members. The products were labeled with traceability and consumed widely in supermarkets and convenience stores.

The plant is easy to grow, does not require high techniques and is a nutritious dish, so to help more people grow this plant, Mr. Tuan proactively researched and produced the plant.

Mr. Tuan chooses a plump mother tree, free of pests and diseases, not too old nor too young to grow the star jasmine seedlings. The mother tree only flowers until June - July, then stops to focus on harvesting branches.

The passionflower is cut into sections of about 1 meter, each section has 1-2 buds, then circled and placed on the ground, choosing to plant in high areas, avoiding flooding. From these buds, new branches will sprout and just need to be planted in the ground, make a trellis for the passionflower to climb to harvest the flowers. Every year, Mr. Tuan's family supplies 80,000-100,000 passionflower seedlings to the national market.

In addition to some special types of flowers, his family also maintains acres of chrysanthemums of many types, such as monosperms, peonies, violets, etc. Sharing about her love for flowers, Mrs. Thanh said: "You have to truly love flowers to be able to take care of them, stay up late and wake up early, and worry about them. We just need to look at the leaves or flowers to know if they are growing well or are infested with pests and diseases, as well as what medicine to use."

Fail but do not be discouraged

Sandstone is commonly grown in Da Lat because of the cool, mild climate, but Mr. Tuan and Mrs. Thanh have applied techniques to suit Hai Duong.

Flower growing is a family tradition for many generations of Mrs. Thanh.

She was originally from Phu Lien village, Hong Phong commune - a long-standing flower growing area, famous in Hai Duong. After starting a family with Mr. Tuan, she brought the flower growing profession to Doan Ket village. To develop the family economy , in addition to growing rice, her husband and wife decided to grow flowers. At first, on a small area with chrysanthemums to serve Tet and full moon days, but when the quality of life improved, customers focused on spiritual life and often bought flowers, so her husband and wife expanded to more types of flowers.

To solve the problem of land for growing flowers, in addition to collecting by buying from surrounding households, the couple also rented land from people who abandoned it, then renovated it accordingly. They built a cold storage to store flower bulbs or flowers that were ready to be harvested but not yet sold. Compared to other areas, the nursery was carefully built with a roofed frame to limit the effects of the weather.

The biggest challenge for flower growers as well as Mr. Tuan and Mrs. Thanh’s family is how to grasp the growing techniques and forecast the weather as well as the flower trends of customers. To meet that, they constantly search and learn in many different ways.

Before planting new flowers, they carefully research customer preferences, the characteristics of each flower and pests by planting them on a small scale. They also diligently read information on the internet and visit real models of gardeners in other provinces about the flowers they plan to plant. "However, it is not always possible to apply that knowledge correctly, but to adapt it to the characteristics of each type of plant and each stage," Ms. Thanh affirmed.

Off-season lilies

To achieve the success they have today, the couple also had to go through many failures. That was when they bought seeds to plant but the flowers did not bloom or bloomed at the wrong time, then the effects of weather, storms and rain made the plants stunted or damaged en masse.

Not discouraged, the couple still found many different ways to overcome and expand the flower garden. Up to now, her family has over 8.5 hectares of land specializing in growing flowers, after deducting expenses, earning billions of dong in profit. Her family also hired many workers to take care of and harvest flowers, especially during the harvest season of morning glory flowers, there are 8-10 workers with an income of 250,000 - 350,000 VND/person/day.

Evaluating the production model of Mr. Tuan's family, Ms. Thanh, representative of the Farmers' Association of Hai Duong province, said that this is a typical model of the locality in terms of both planting scale and income. He and his wife also proactively share their experiences with many other farmers to develop the economy and get rich on their homeland.

Saying goodbye to us, Ms. Thanh said she will continue to maintain and develop the flower growing profession to exploit the full potential and strengths of the locality, and also to make every house more beautiful.

THANH HA

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/cho-doi-them-dep-403699.html