One month before the Lunar New Year is the busiest time for gardeners in the suburbs of Hanoi. Farmers are busy preparing to sell their home-grown ornamental plants for those who want to decorate their homes before the (Tet) Lunar New Year.

In addition to the familiar ornamental plants such as peaches, kumquats, and pomelos, the tiny papaya tree is also a popular bonsai this year. According to folk beliefs, the papaya symbolizes fullness and reunion, so many people choose to buy it for home decoration on the occasion of the Tet holiday.

Nguyen Van Theu, a gardener in Van Giang District, the northern province of Hung Yen has 100 papaya bonsai but only half of them meet the standards for sale.

According to Theu, compared with other types of bonsai, the papaya one is very difficult to grow. “They are vulnerable to worms. Once infected, the tree will quickly die,” he said.

“It takes me around one year to grow the bonsai papaya from seeding until the tree bears fruit. If 50% of the trees survive, it would be a remarkable achievement,” he added.

Growing papaya bonsai is a meticulous work that farmers have to pay great attention to all stages from choosing variety, taking the right time for sowing to caring for the plants so that they bear fruit before the Tet.

A papaya bonsai to be regarded as beautiful must meet many criteria such as: having a beautiful shape; the foliage are round with green leaves; the tree must have flowers in bloom; and the size of papaya fruits must be homogeneous.

The yield of papaya bonsai is low, so the selling price is also quite high, ranging from VND2 million to a dozen million dongs depending on the size and shape.