The lunar New Year (Tet holiday) is the time for Vietnamese to relax and spend money, especially the rich. VietNamNet reporters collect interesting stories about Tet hobbies.

Hiring ancient peach trees

The old peach tree of Mr. Tu Khuong.

The service to lend ornamental trees to display during the Tet holiday appeared several years ago in big cities in Vietnam as Hanoi and HCM City.

In Hanoi, gardeners in villages famous for ornamental trees and flowers like Nhat Tan and Phu Thuong have prepared ancient peach trees and special ornamental trees to lease during Tet.

Gardeners said that rich people are willing to pay thousands of US dollars to hire special ornamental trees to display at their home duringTet.

Tu Khuong, a gardener in Phu Thuong village, said that last year a businessman paid him $6000 to hire his 80-year-old peach tree for the week of Tet.

Khuong said the leasing price of this tree is high because this is one of two ancient peach trees of his family and one of the oldest peach trees in Phu Thuong flower village.

The tree has been transmitted through three generations in his family. The tree figure is also very special. Among more than 100 peach trees in Khuong’s garden, the ancient tree stands out.

This gardener also earned $10,000 from leasing another ancient peach tree last year. Khuong said this year he will not lease this tree because it needs another year to recover.

The number of ancient peach trees in Phu Thuong village is estimated at 20. They are treasures of the village so gardeners will never sell them, just leasing them, Khuong disclosed.

He said that ancient trees are extremely powerful trees to live for nearly a century but if gardeners dig them up annually to lease, they may die. Therefore, gardeners never hire them annually, but each two years.

Peach trees of 30 years old upwards are leased at the price of at least VND15 million ($750)/tree.

Khuong said that taking care of ancient peach trees is an art and only senior gardeners can do this job.

Million USD ornamental trees also for lease

A bonsai that is worth over a million of USD.

The exhibition of ornamental trees and animals to celebrate Hanoi’s 1000^th anniversary held in Hanoi in October 2010 was a rare chance for people to witness the most special and expensive ornamental trees in Vietnam.

Most Hanoians took advantage of visiting and taking pictures of the treasured trees, which are worthy millions of USD. Some people asked for the contact information of the owners of these trees in order to hire the trees for Tet.

The director of a newly-emerging estate company in Hanoi told VietNamNet that he is seeking to hire one of million USD trees that was introduced at the exhibition to display at his home this Tet.

He said that he didn’t want to be extravagant and he knew that it is very difficult to hire these trees because the owners of these trees are very rich and they don’t want to lease their treasured trees, being afraid that the trees may be harmed. If a branch is broken, nobody can compensate.

The owner of the biggest garden in Son Tay, Hanoi, said: “The number of famous trees in Vietnam is just a handful. Just several gardeners are able to take care of special trees. Nobody can grow ancient trees in several months. Moreover, nobody force trees to grow as they like. So I don’t dare to lease my trees”.

He said that many people called him to hire his ornamental trees, which are worth hundreds of thousands USD, to display during Tet but he refused. He said that it is goodluck for him to have these trees so he doesn’t want to leave them. Moreover, Vietnam doesn’t have insurance service for trees. If something happens for his trees, the loss will be incalculable.

A rich businessman man told VietNamNet that he wanted to hire an ancient ornamental tree to display during Tet holiday because of spiritual reasons.

“A tree that has been living for centuries must have a soul. Moreover, they are perfect trees so if I can hire them to display at home during Tet, they will bring about good fortune,” he said.

However, this businessman is disappointed because all gardeners he has contacted refused to lease their trees.

Director of Hanoi-based Anh Thu Ornamental Tree Company said that the number of ancient ornamental trees is limited so only familiar customers will be given priority.

According to her, to hire such trees, money is not the key.

Kien Trung