Three Star Peach

Telling the story of peach planting, folklore says that, long ago in the eastern mountainous region of Soc Son, there was a peach tree that had grown for a long time. The peach branches and leaves were unusually large, and the tree's shade covered a large area. On the peach tree, two fairies lived. They destroyed ghosts and helped the people in the area have a peaceful and happy life. Terrified by the great power of the two gods, the demons were also afraid of the peach tree.

But at the end of every year, the two fairies had to return to the Jade Emperor in heaven, and they returned to cause trouble. People cut down peach branches to display in their homes. Just seeing the peach blossoms made them scared and run away. From then on, the custom of playing with peach blossoms during Tet was born and spread throughout North Vietnam. Today, fresh peach branches still appear in every home during Tet, but their meaning is far different from the old custom. The beauty of the flowers symbolizes luck, happiness, and reunion. From then on, the peach growing profession appeared in many places...

People pick peach leaves to prevent the flowers from blooming in time for Tet.

In Ha Nam, there are many peach growing areas, but the most famous and beautiful is Ba Sao peach (Kim Bang). Because this is a semi-mountainous area, the climate is suitable for peach trees, so Ba Sao peaches always have fresh colors, even and deep flowers. Like in many other peach growing areas, peaches in Ba Sao have 3 main types: old peaches, bonsai peaches and branch peaches. Talking about peach trees in Ba Sao, Mr. Tran Que Chi, a native of Ba Sao, said that during the French colonial period, this Ba Sao land was originally exploited by the French to grow coffee. When the Ba Sao Farm came into existence, this place became a land for growing mulberry to raise silkworms. When the farm model was no longer suitable and dissolved, people here cultivated tea, sugarcane, corn and cassava. Over the past 20 years, Ba Sao has become famous for custard apples, ornamental peaches, grapefruit and tangerines.

These days of the 11th lunar month, Ba Sao people are busy stripping peach leaves to help the trees bloom in time for the end of the year to serve people with beautiful peach trees to display on Tet. Next to the vast peach garden stretching to the foot of the mountain, Mr. Hoang Van Thuy, one of the biggest peach growers in Ba Sao, shared: Peach trees are deciduous trees that lose their leaves every winter. After the leaves fall, flower buds develop and grow quickly. If left alone, the peach tree will lose its leaves at the end of December and the flowers will bloom at the end of January or February of the following year, so if you want beautiful flowers during Tet, growers must perform the technique of stripping leaves in advance to "slow down the tree" so that the flowers will bloom in time for Tet. The time to strip peach leaves is usually in the 11th lunar month. It is said to be leaf stripping, but in fact the grower must be meticulous and carefully pick each leaf so as not to affect the flower buds at the end of the leaf axil... In Mr. Hoang Van Thuy's peach garden, there are currently two types of peach trees: peach blossom and peach blossom. He often sells trees and branches to flower lovers during Tet.

In addition to the two flower lines above, in Ba Sao there is also the existence of ancient peach trees or commonly called peach trees. This is the type of peach that connoisseurs always seek to buy to enjoy Tet. Ba Sao ancient peach trees have been around for a long time, the trees grow in the forest, in the rocky mountains or in the gardens of many families. Ancient peach trees have single petals with a light pink color, the trees bloom naturally with both flowers and young leaves, so they have a pure beauty and are full of vitality. The tree bears fruit when the ripe fruit falls, the tree grows from seeds. In the past, the people here considered the peach tree as a normal tree like any other tree in the garden, so they did not take much care and just let the tree grow naturally, blooming in the spring, by January, two trees bear fruit. When ripe, the peach trees have a light pink color, the red flesh is quite sweet and fragrant. This is a type of fruit that attracts many fruit-eating birds, so this type of tree used to be common in Ba Sao. But the weakness of the old peach tree (Vietnamese peach) in Ba Sao is that the flowers do not last as long as other peach varieties, so the main plant in Ba Sao is still the double-petal hybrid peach. However, with the vitality of wild peach, people here often take beautiful peach roots and graft them with hybrid peach trees, which also produce beautiful flowers, often shaped into bonsai peach trees and are quite popular with many customers.

Ba Sao town, at the end of the year, is often bustling with people buying peach blossoms for Tet. Fresh peach blossoms always bring warmth to every home, sowing joy, love, and hope in each person's heart for a good new year.

Chu Binh

Source: https://baohanam.com.vn/kinh-te/nong-nghiep/dao-ba-sao-142597.html