A rich man plays strangely, spending tens of millions to buy a grapefruit tree with flowers and leaves to display on Tet.

As the Lunar New Year 2020 is approaching, the market for ornamental plants for Tet is starting to bustle with customers. Pots of kumquat, orange or grapefruit trees laden with fruit have begun to be brought to the streets for people to buy and display on Tet.

However, in addition to the familiar ornamental plants above, many people also buy grapefruit flower roots to play Tet because of the novelty and special scent of this flower.

Pointing to a grapefruit tree that is all leaves, no fruit, and has a few clusters of grapefruit flowers, Mr. Dao Manh Khuong - a grapefruit tree dealer in Can Tho for Tet decoration said that the northern provinces often have the hobby of playing with Tet grapefruit trees, but those are grapefruits with many fruits. In the South, many people choose grapefruit trees for flowers.

Bonsai grapefruit trees with all leaves are being chosen by many people to buy to play during Lunar New Year.

Grapefruit flowers have a special, elegant fragrance, spreading fragrance throughout the house. In particular, grapefruit often blooms right on the occasion of Lunar New Year. The flowers usually bloom for about half a month, if watered less, the flowers will last longer.

When the flowers fade, they will bear fruit. The tree grows normal fruit, completely different from the grafted pomelo bonsai, and after Tet, the fruit must be cut off. Therefore, this year, many people choose to buy pomelo flower roots.

“These grapefruit trees are all several years old. They only have leaves and only a few clusters of flowers, but the gardeners have a secret to make the trees bloom in time for Tet,” said Mr. Khuong, revealing that each grapefruit tree costs from 5 to 7.5 million VND, depending on the shape and age of the tree.

Instead of grafting, the grapefruit trees are cared for by gardeners to bloom right on the occasion of Lunar New Year.

A bonsai grapefruit tree of this type costs about 5 - 10 million VND, even a beautiful tree can cost up to 15 million VND.

This item is quite new this year, but the number of customers ordering is very high. Most customers buy in pairs to display during Tet.

This bonsai grapefruit tree is quite large and has a large canopy, so the main buyers are well-off families, houses with wide frontage, or families living in villas because they have space to display for Tet, said Mr. Khuong.

According to Mr. Khuong, although there is still nearly a month until Lunar New Year 2020, he currently only has a few more pairs of grapefruit trees left to "sell out".

In the current market, grapefruit tree roots for flowers cost from 5 to 10 million VND/root. There are large, beautiful trees that cost up to 12 to 15 million VND/root.