White, Pink, Red, Purple roses, Western variety such Eyes for You rose, the Lark Ascending rose, peach roses, these are some unique species of rose that can be found at Thanh Son's garden.
His love of roses began 4 years ago, when he was introduced to Britain's roses. After that, he started collecting and studying them. Now, his flower garden has over 100 different types of roses, including up to 5- 6 breeds of ancient Vietnamese rose species such as peach rose, điều rose, quế rose.
Nguyen Thanh Son, Owner of Thanh Son's garden, Rose lover said: I love roses because they're beautiful and fragrant. There are many challenges in growing roses, and are more difficult than other flowers since they're non tropical plants. For example, summer is supposed to be the season for roses, but they are least beautiful in the summer here since the weather is too hot. They're also susceptible to disease.
To satisfy his passion for roses, he opened Thanh Son's Garden, an airy and spacious place for roses to grow, where he grows many different varieties of roses. The garden has also attracted many people; it is where families go to take pictures, relax, drink tea and learn about roses.
Roses in Thanh Son's garden
A corner in Thanh Son's garden
Roses in Thanh Son's garden
26-year-old Pham Thien Trang also has a strong passion for roses, especially old Vietnamese varieties. She discovered old roses when she was still a student, when she fell in love with this type of flower due to its background, characteristics and history.
According to Trang, ancient Vietnamese roses don't necessarily mean they are old in age. Ancient rose is the term used to refer to the first varieties of roses that were first introduced to Vietnam a long time ago, especially in French colonial times.
There are many varieties of roses that were brought to Vietnam, but for them to qualify as ancient roses, they have to have evolved to adapt to the weather and climate of Vietnam. That's why these type of roses are easy to grow, have beautiful petals, and yield flowers that are very fragrant.
Pham Thien Trang, Vietgarden Owner, Rose lover said: When I visited the region to research about old rose varieties. In many places they treasure their roses, for example Bach van khoi roses in Yen Bai Province, but in Thanh hoa, they consider this a normal type of rose. Sometimes if they need to build a garden or yard, they wouldn't hesitate to get rid of ancient roses that are sometimes 20-30 years old. I feel that the Vietnamese tend to prefer Western type roses, but if they continue this, we'll forget about the type of roses our grandparents preserved. This is why I want to preserve the old varieties of roses in Vietnam.
Pham Thien Trang in her garden
To learn and grow ancient rose varieties, Trang visited different regions known for acient roses such as Dalat, Yen Bai, Sapa, and Nam Dinh, Hai Phong to learn more about ancient roses and how to breed them. Since then, Trang's passion has turned into a career, she now owns flower farms of up to 5000 m2, with over 300 varieties of roses, including types of roses only found abroad, in every colour and size, as well as rare Vietnamese ancient roses such red climbing Hai Phong roses and Sa Pa roses.
In the future, rose lovers like Trang and Son hope to continue to restore, build and find more of ancient rose varieties of Vietnam, and promote the value of these varieties, the very species that was preserved and developed by our ancestors.
