TL;DR: Each of Vietnam's large Tet flower villages is tied to a signature plant: Sa Đéc grows flowers and ornamental plants on tall trellises, Cái Mơn in Chợ Lách is strong in seedlings, bougainvillea and shaped ornamental plants, Mỹ Tho grows Tet flowers sold by the basket, and An Nhơn grows yellow mai. To make flowers bloom right at Tet, gardeners must watch the weather, choose varieties and care for the plants stage by stage; gardeners in An Nhơn strip mai leaves from around the 20th day of the 11th lunar month, while mâm xôi chrysanthemums in Chợ Lách must be sown about 6 months before Tet.
Which Famous Tet Flower Villages Are There in Vietnam?
Vietnam's famous Tet flower villages are usually tied to one signature plant and one specific region. This article covers four places: Sa Đéc flower village (Đồng Tháp), the Cái Mơn flower and ornamental plant village in Chợ Lách (former Bến Tre province, now part of Vĩnh Long province), Mỹ Tho flower village (former Tiền Giang province, now part of Đồng Tháp province) and the An Nhơn yellow apricot area (former Bình Định province, now part of Gia Lai province). Each village has its own crop calendar, plant varieties and care techniques, but all must time cultivation so plants reach their best appearance exactly at Tet.
Below is a quick comparison table of the typical villages mentioned in this article.
| Flower village | Region | Signature plant | Notable points |
|---|---|---|---|
| An Nhơn | Former Bình Định, now part of Gia Lai | Yellow apricot (mai vàng) | Regarded as the largest yellow apricot hub in the Central region, about 145 ha |
| Sa Dec | Dong Thap | Various ornamental flowers | Grown on high racks, nearly 1,000 ha, more than 2,000 varieties |
| Cái Mơn, Chợ Lách | Former Bến Tre, now part of Vĩnh Long | Bougainvillea, ornamental plants, seedlings | Called the kingdom of flowers and ornamental plants |
| Mỹ Tho | Former Tiền Giang, now part of Đồng Tháp | Assorted Tet flowers | More than one million baskets of Tet flowers a year |
When Was Sa Dec Flower Village Formed and When Did It Start Growing Flowers on Racks?
Sa Dec flower village was formed in the late 19th century along Thong Luu canal, initially just small scattered gardens in Tan Quy Dong village, now part of Sa Dec ward, Dong Thap province. According to elders and documents from Bao Dong Thap, the trade did not begin as vast fields but grew out of the leisure gardening of households along Thong Luu and Rach Dau canals. The figure credited as the pioneer is Mr. Tu Ton (real name Duong Huu Tai), a farmer who worked in rice fields and learned to grow rustic flowers such as marigolds and chrysanthemums for enjoyment.
The signature of Sa Dec flowers is the technique of growing on high racks. This is not only an aesthetic feature but a creation of farmers to adapt to low-lying terrain frequently affected by tides and floods from the Tien River. Mr. Duong Van Que, seventh son of the late artisan Tu Ton, recalled that initially racks were made of bamboo, pots woven from bamboo lined with water coconut leaves, using rotten straw as growing medium; growing on racks keeps plants airy, prevents root rot and avoids soil-borne pests. Today, the old bamboo racks have been replaced by sturdy iron frames and plastic pipes with an investment cost of about 15 million VND per 1,000 m².
According to Bao Dong Thap, in the 1950s and 1960s, demand for flowers among the middle class and traders in large cities increased, and Mr. Tu Ton astutely turned his garden into a flower garden with hundreds of imported rose varieties, at one point importing hundreds of precious rose plants from France to acclimatize on alluvial soil. After 1975, Sa Dec flower village entered a period of brilliant development, no longer confined to Tan Quy Dong but spreading to neighboring areas. To date, Sa Dec flower village has reached nearly 1,000 ha with more than 2,000 varieties of ornamental flowers.
How Is the Cái Mơn Flower Village in Chợ Lách Different from Sa Đéc?
Cho Lach flower and ornamental plant village in former Ben Tre province (now part of Vinh Long) is considered the kingdom of flowers and ornamental plants, producing millions of products for the Tet market. According to many artisans, this flower village was formed more than a century ago. Currently Cho Lach has thousands of farming households producing flowers and ornamental plants year-round, concentrated especially around Tet. Unlike Sa Đéc, where flowers are grown on racks, Chợ Lách is known above all for seedlings, bougainvillea and shaped ornamental plants.
The story of Mr. Pham Van Mau's family in Vinh Hoa commune, Cho Lach district (before July 2025), shows the shift in the trade. Mr. Mau recalled that at 14 he learned to grow flowers and ornamental plants from his grandfather, uncles and aunts; at that time they grew simple plants such as marigolds, yellow apricot and mai chieu thuy, waiting until Tet to carry them to market. More than a decade ago, he began switching to bougainvillea; on average his family earns more than one billion VND per year from bougainvillea, and all 4,000 m² of family land is planted with bougainvillea sold year-round. He is passing the trade to his son Pham Quoc Thai, who once worked as a silversmith in Ho Chi Minh City and decided to quit to return home and continue the family's traditional trade.
Besides bougainvillea, Cho Lach is also famous for the craft of shaping ornamental plants. Artisan Le Gap Em in Tan Thieng commune, formerly Cho Lach district, has spent almost his whole life shaping ornamental plants; his garden of linh sam, yellow apricot, pine and nguyet que is carefully shaped, with plants valued at billions of VND. He said that for more than a year he has spent time guiding ornamental plant enthusiasts on shaping via YouTube, and so far about 4,000 people have been guided directly and through social media.
On the government side, since 2017 Ben Tre province has piloted the Project to Build Cho Lach Cultural Tourism Village connecting four hamlets: Dong Kinh (Vinh Hoa commune), Lan Dong (Phu Son commune), An Hoa (Long Thoi commune) and Vinh Nam (Vinh Thanh commune) with a total area of 1,490 ha, centered in Vinh Thanh commune within the memorial area of scholar Truong Vinh Ky. In late 2022, the then Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bến Tre province, Đoàn Văn Đảnh, said the province had just launched the Project to Develop Cho Lach Seedlings and Ornamental Flowers at national scale with total investment of nearly 85 billion VND, building a concentrated specialized production area of 300 to 500 ha within the 1,500 ha of seedlings and ornamental flowers of Cho Lach district (before July 2025).
How Is the Tet Season Prepared for An Nhon Yellow Apricot?
An Nhon yellow apricot (An Nhon town, former Binh Dinh province, now part of Gia Lai) is considered the largest yellow apricot hub in the Central region, with thousands of households growing apricot and an area of about 145 ha. The decisive step for apricot to bloom on time for Tet is leaf stripping. According to growers, usually from the 20th day of the 11th lunar month onward is the suitable time to strip apricot leaves, but one must watch the weather so apricot blooms in time for Tet sales. Stripping apricot leaves is fairly simple but requires technique and care not to affect the plant's growth; if not skillful, one may strip off flower buds at the leaf axils.
The hired leaf-stripping season is also a season for local people to earn extra income. At the end of the year, growers need people to strip apricot leaves, so residents take advantage of the agricultural slack season to work for hire. In early 2024, a day of leaf stripping paid about 180,000 to 200,000 VND. Mrs. Dang Thi Kim Long (63 years old, Phuoc Hung commune, Tuy Phuoc district) said: Now is the start of the apricot leaf-stripping season, people only hire for about half a month, so whether sunny or rainy we take the chance to work for extra income.
In terms of scale, Mr. Nguyen Son Co (65 years old, Hao Duc hamlet, Nhon An commune, An Nhon town) said that for the 2024 Tet his family planned to sell more than 1,000 pots. In recent years, Tet apricot has brought large revenue to An Nhon town; especially in 2023, revenue from yellow apricot reached about 175 billion VND. An Nhon town also organizes an artistic yellow apricot exhibition, and in 2024 it is expected to display about 5,300 works at the yellow apricot product exhibition area in Trung Dinh hamlet, Nhon An commune.
Why Must Growers Watch the Weather When Preparing Tet Flowers?
Watching the weather is a vital step in the Tet flower trade because flowers must bloom on time; too early or too late both lose value. With yellow apricot, erratic weather means leaf stripping must be adjusted flexibly; with short-cycle flowers such as cúc mâm xôi chrysanthemums, preparation lasts about 6 months.
Mr. Tran Van Hau (64 years old, Long Thoi commune, Cho Lach district, Ben Tre province) has more than 20 years of flower growing experience and said that to grow chrysanthemums he must prepare 6 months in advance to sow seeds and care carefully so flowers bloom on time for Tet. Previously, around the 25th of the twelfth lunar month he and his wife would move flowers onto boats to carry to the Tet market and sell until the night of the 30th, returning home only when people welcomed the New Year's Eve; after a few days of Tet he was busy again preparing fertilizer and seedlings for the next Tet season.
In Sa Dec, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuy, residing in Khanh Nghia hamlet, Tân Khánh Đông commune, Sa Đéc city (before July 2025), has been attached to flower growing for more than 40 years. She recalled that as a student she already grew flowers with her parents; in the 2023 Tet, her family sowed five công of marigolds and hoa trang (ixora). She shared: This trade is very hard. Flowers are grown on racks, and I row a boat along the racks to care for flowers under the sun so plants grow well, day after day tending to every little detail.
In Mỹ Tho flower village (former Tiền Giang province, now part of Đồng Tháp province), Mrs. Nguyễn Thị Diễm Kiều, residing in Hội Gia hamlet, Mỹ Phong commune, Mỹ Tho city (before July 2025), said the flower growing trade has been with her family since her grandfather and father, and now her. Every day she and four workers care for flowers directly from 6 a.m. until dusk; to limit pests and diseases, every day or two she sprays pesticides, sometimes returning home near midnight to rest and starting again at 4 or 5 a.m. the next morning in the flower field.
In Which Direction Are Tet Flower Villages Transforming?
Major Tet flower villages are shifting from small-scale production to concentrated planning linked with tourism and science and technology. In Sa Đéc, in late 2022, the then Vice Chairwoman of the Sa Đéc City People's Committee, Võ Thị Bình, said the city had planned to build Sa Dec Flower Village into the largest concentrated flower production area in the Mekong Delta, combined with tourism services, encouraging people to change crop structure, expand area, apply science and technology in grafting, propagation and breeding, and deploy many new technology models in ornamental flower production toward environmental protection. The first Sa Dec Flower and Ornamental Plant Festival in 2023 and the second in 2025 affirm the region's status as a flower kingdom.
In Chợ Lách, besides the project to develop seedlings and ornamental flowers, the former Bến Tre province also built craft village tourism. Since 2017, the Cho Lach Cultural Tourism Village Project has connected four hamlets with a total area of 1,490 ha, allowing tourists to visit sites such as Cai Mon Church, ancient houses, durian gardens, bougainvillea village, fruit orchards and the country's largest seedling production garden.
In Mỹ Tho, according to Báo Nhân Dân in late 2022, the flower village had expanded to nearly all of My Phong commune, Tan My Chanh and Ward 9, with Tet flower output supplied to the market of more than one million baskets per year. According to local elders, the flower village appeared on My Tho land before 1975 and initially had only a few hundred pots; now the flower village has grown to more than one million pots of various flowers. Mr. Nguyen Van Phuoc (82 years old, residing in Hoi Gia hamlet, My Phong commune) is one of the first people to grow flowers in large quantities in My Tho city; of his seven children, six followed his flower growing career.
How Do Tet Flower Growers Keep and Pass On the Trade?
A common point of Tet flower villages is that the trade is passed down through many generations in the same family. According to many elders in flower villages, from their formation to now, many families have had four or five generations attached to growing flowers and ornamental plants. Like many other trades, in flower and ornamental plant growing, especially Tet season production, there are bumper crops and there are failures.
According to elders in Sa Dec flower village, this land has had five generations of growing ornamental flowers. First were ornamental flower growers in Sa Dec from the late 19th century to 1930, considered the founding generation of the craft village; at that time ornamental flowers only met the needs of individual families and persons, not yet able to be sold everywhere. The fifth generation is identified from 1990 to now, sometimes called the golden generation; in this period production has continuously grown, creating competitive advantages from promoting inherent potential and strengths.
Passing on the trade is also more organized. Mr. Tran Van Binh (72 years old), Head of the Flower Village Club at Tan My quarter, Tân Quy Đông ward, Sa Đéc city (before July 2025), said he and many experienced people are invited by the Sa Dec City Agricultural Service Center to share experience in many classes on growing and caring for flowers and bonsai ornamental plants. He shared: In the process of teaching, I see many young people and farming brothers and sisters are very passionate about bonsai. I am very happy, because I feel this trade will not fade away. As of late 2022, for three consecutive years, the Sa Đéc City Culture and Information Office has organized events to honor and pay tribute to the ornamental flower growing trade, helping to pass the flame to today's and future generations.
