VietNamNet Bridge – With wonderful conditions of weather and soil, the resort town of Da Lat in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong is the kingdom of flowers. Local artisans use these valuable sources of materials to create incomparable ornamental trees.

Da Lat gears up for bloom boom

At the Da Lat Flower Festival, which closed on January 3, visitors had a chance to see pansy bonsais with big and rough tree-trunk like camp-wood trees. Even the leaves of these trees looked stronger and bigger than leaves of normal pansy trees. Only the flowers were still frail and gentle.

Da Lat artisans also turned rose trees into bonsais, with tree-trunk diameter of up to 10-20cm. The lifespan of rose trees is only several years but a rose bonsai displayed at the festival is nearly 100 years old. This bonsai can have tens or a hundred of roses at the same time. This special rose bonsai won the gold medal at the festival.

In the late 19th century, a German botanist named M.Krempfii discovered the only community of pine trees with flat needles in the world at the Bidoup – Ba Mount National Park in Lam Dong province, which is named after krempfii as Krempf's Pine (Pinus krempfii). This species appeared in the same age with dinosaurs. Krempf's Pine have existed for millenniums but it almost does not have any genetic mutation.

This species is very rare but a Da Lat artisan has collected and turned a Krempf's Pine tree into a bonsai, which was introduced at the festival.

The festival also hosted other rare bonsais, including a red pine and some three-needled pine bonsais.

Some species of vegetable also became ornamental trees at the festival, including cabbage and mustard green trees which looked like strange flowers.

Mulberry trees also became bonsais of only 40-50cm high, with tree-trunks of 10-15cm in diameter and hundreds of mulberries.

At the Da Lat Flower Festival, visitors eyed fantastic trees, which they had not seen in the real life. Below are some of unique bonsais showcased at the event:


Thanh Ha