Located in Tan An Ward in Can Tho City, the fresh flower shop owned by Le Minh Chien (born in 1996) has left quite an impression on customers. His bouquets are beautiful and diverse, and creatively crafted from an unconventional material: fruits and vegetables.

Chien used to be a life skills teacher for kindergarten and primary school children in HCMC. In 2020, he joined the military service.

After being discharged, instead of returning to the classroom, he ventured into the fresh flower business. One day, a customer challenged him to create a bouquet that would stand out from everything already available on the market.

Inspired by the request, Chien spent considerable time researching ideas. While browsing online, he discovered that people overseas were making bouquets from vegetables and fruit. He experimented by combining fresh flowers with corn to create his first unique arrangement.

Although the bouquet was far from perfect, the customer loved it. Chien later shared photos of his creation on social media, where it attracted nearly one million views.

"After my first vegetable bouquet, I continued selling traditional flower arrangements. However, during holidays, fresh flowers often become scarce and prices can rise several times compared to ordinary days.

"At the same time, many customers felt that traditional flower bouquets had become too common and wanted something more distinctive. That encouraged me to create arrangements combining fresh flowers with vegetables and fruit to offer recipients a completely different experience," Chien said.

His creations feature a wide variety of fresh produce, including carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, corn, shallots, bell peppers, chayote, oranges, apples and grapes. The ingredients are carefully arranged among fresh flowers to create visually appealing and harmonious bouquets.

To make them even more lively, Chien decorates the vegetables and fruit with eyes, noses and mouths. Apples, onions, corn and broccoli are transformed into playful, expressive characters full of personality.

Orders keep coming

Chien said creating vegetable bouquets requires not only creativity but also careful attention to preserving freshness. The produce must remain fresh, attractive and suitable for cooking when it reaches the recipient.

For that reason, he carefully selects fresh, high-quality ingredients. During the design process, he avoids piercing the vegetables with toothpicks, nails or sharp objects. Instead, he uses food-safe adhesives and discreet fixing techniques to maintain both appearance and quality.

Since launching the products, the vegetable-and-flower bouquets have quickly become popular thanks to their novelty and practicality. To ensure freshness, Chien only begins making each bouquet after receiving an order.

He usually goes to the market shortly before delivery to purchase fresh ingredients. During peak occasions such as International Women's Day on March 8, Vietnamese Women's Day on October 20 and Vietnamese Teachers' Day on November 20, his vegetable bouquets regularly sell out.

During busy seasons, Chien constantly develops new designs, sources fresh ingredients and hires additional helpers to complete orders on time. His bouquets currently sell for between VND180,000 and around VND1 million, depending on their size and customers' requirements.

The occasion he remembers most was Teachers' Day last year, when many students ordered the bouquets as gifts for their teachers. Many teachers were pleasantly surprised and delighted by the unusual presents.

According to Chien, several teachers later told their students they especially appreciated the gifts because they were creative, adorable and practical.

Vo Tan Duy (born in 1993), also from Tan An Ward, Can Tho, purchased one of Chien's vegetable bouquets to surprise his mother on her birthday.

"After learning about them, I found these bouquets combining vegetables, fruit and fresh flowers to be incredibly creative and unique.

"Besides serving as a beautiful gift and decoration for special occasions, the bouquet can also be turned into a meal afterward. That makes the gift even more meaningful because nothing goes to waste and it can be enjoyed twice," Duy said.

Ha Nguyen