The hard workers behind your glamorous Tet blossoms

When Vietnamese all over the country are busy filling up their houses with flowers and bonsai for Tet, or Lunar New Year, workers at this farm in Saigon are working day and night to meet that high demand.

Most workers at this farm in Go Vap District, one of the few that plant flowers in the busy commercial city, come from nearby provinces. Bo Hoa, 29, from Ninh Thuan has been working at this farm for six seasons. “Every year I come to Saigon in September or October and work here until Tet,” he says. He is paid VND4-5 million ($180-220) a month plus food, accommodation and a bus ticket home.

"There's a lot of work. We have to work nonstop from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. For three days ahead of Tet, we have to stay up almost all night,” Minh from Tra Vinh says.

Three days before Tet is the most busiest time, says Minh. “Trucks come and in out to get flowers from early morning to midnight.” 

Nguyen Viet Duc from the Central Highlands carries two pots of sunflowers to a truck at midnight. “I grow coffee and pepper back in my hometown. This is the first time I come to Saigon to take care of flowers. It’s nice here as most people are easy to get along with.”

Workers stay up all night to bring flowers from the farm to trucks.

Minh has some food while another worker rests in a hut. “I’ll use some money to buy Tet gifts for my family. If there’s enough left, I will buy a cow for my farm back home,” he says.

The workers cheer at a year-end party before each of them return home for Tet.