A love of purple

On an August day, Nguyen Thi Truc Phuong, 39, from Ben Luc Commune in Tay Ninh, brought some of her favorite dresses to a linh sam flower garden that was reaching one of its most beautiful moments of the year.

There, she could simply wander among the flowers and capture photographs surrounded by dreamy shades of purple.

Phuong first discovered the garden through social media. The moment she saw friends posting photographs amid seemingly endless purple blossoms, she asked for the address and made her way there.

“I love purple, so whenever the garden is in full bloom, I come back to admire the flowers and take pictures,” she said. “I always feel relaxed and comfortable when I’m here. The flowers are not only beautiful but also wonderfully fragrant. That’s why, whenever the garden reaches its peak, so many visitors come from different places to see it and take photos.”

The garden belongs to Nguyen Phuong Tong, 45, from My Hanh Commune in Tay Ninh, who began creating it many years ago.

Having loved the color purple since childhood, Tong went online nine years ago looking for purple-flowering plants that he could grow as ornamentals.

When he came across a profusely flowering variety of linh sam whose blossoms were exactly the shade he loved, he bought several plants to try.

They thrived and produced beautiful flowers, prompting him to buy more.

Today, his roughly 1,000-square-meter garden contains around 60-70 linh sam trees standing between two and four meters tall. Mature trees have developed broad canopies and produce abundant blossoms.

When flowering season arrives, the garden appears almost completely covered in dense clusters of purple blooms.

From a distance, it looks like an expansive sweep of purple, accompanied by the flowers’ distinctive fragrance.

“Linh sam is quite easy to care for,” Tong said. “When planted directly in the ground, the trees grow well and flower beautifully, and they only need occasional fertilizing. Growing them in pots requires more work.”

The older the trees become, the more profusely they flower.

They typically reach full bloom in February, April and August. Flowers still appear during other months, but in smaller numbers.

“Each flowering period is only at its best for about three or four days, and there is usually one day when the whole garden seems to explode into bloom,” Tong said. “So I often joke that if you want to catch the flowers at their most beautiful and fragrant, you need a little luck - and enough passion.”

An open invitation to enjoy the flowers for free

Since around 2021 and 2022, when the linh sam garden reaches peak bloom, Tong has welcomed hundreds of visitors a day.

Alongside local residents, the garden attracts people from provinces and cities across the country.

To give visitors a pleasant place to admire the flowers and take photographs, Tong clears weeds and removes dead branches and fallen leaves from the garden.

He has also planted sunflowers, cacti, watermelons and bottle gourds to create additional backdrops for visitors’ photographs.

Tong even announces when the garden is expected to look its best so people can arrange their visits.

There is no admission charge. In fact, he does not charge visitors for anything, including drinking water or parking.

“The owner is incredibly enthusiastic and hospitable,” Phuong said. “Not only is everything free, but he also gives visitors drinking water and is happy to help anyone who wants photos or videos taken, without charging them.”

Tong once grew linh sam only inside the garden.

One day, he noticed a group of schoolgirls passing by who wanted to come in and take photographs but were too shy. He invited them inside, but they still hesitated to enter.

That encounter gave him an idea.

He planted another row of linh sam right beside the road so anyone passing could simply stop and take pictures without having to enter the garden.

The small road running past his property has since become a picturesque attraction in its own right, with green rice fields on one side and a vivid row of purple linh sam flowers on the other.

Many visitors now choose the roadside stretch as a setting for memorable photographs and videos.