Melt with the blooming Bauhinia flowers all over the poetic, winding road

Baoquocte.vn. These days, tourists from all over are gathering in Dien Bien - in the land of white Bauhinia flowers blooming all over the winding, poetic roads.

The Ban Flower Festival has been held annually in mid-March by Dien Bien province for many years. (Source: VNA)

For many years, the Ban Flower Festival has been held annually by Dien Bien province in mid-March - right on the occasion of the opening of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. After nearly 10 years of organization, the Ban Flower Festival has gradually become a brand, a typical product of Dien Bien tourism .

Hoa ban - the flower symbolizing Thai girls, typical of the Northwest mountains and forests, has been included in many writers and artists' works. Poet Nguyen Dinh Huan once wrote: The flower is light pink, purple, pure white/ Symbolizes the love of a Thai girl/ When her father forced her into an unjust marriage/ She died and turned into a wild flower on the hillside...

The Ban tree is a woody plant, distributed in Northern Laos, Northern Thailand and Northwest Vietnam. Based on the flower color, people temporarily divide it into three types: white, white-purple and white-purple. Some people think that there is a red Ban flower variety, but in fact, the Northwest Ban flower is not red. "Red Ban Flower" is the name of a movie about a battle at the Dien Bien battlefield in 1954. Currently, some places have successfully crossbred the red Ban flower variety, introduced it to Vietnam and grown in some localities.

Before 1970, Ban trees grew abundantly on the mountain slopes, and the blooming season turned the entire Northwest forest white. Most Ban trees were over 5m tall, with tall branches and canopies. People who were not natives, did not have the conditions to go to the forest, did not know how to climb trees to get Ban flowers and shoots, would not know the specific characteristics, flavors, and colors of the flowers; from afar, they would only see white.

Since 1985, the clearing of forests for farming and growing food crops to serve the people's lives has expanded, the area of ban flower forests has been significantly reduced. Therefore, many people who go to Dien Bien are no longer lucky enough to see and admire the beauty and immense fragrance of the ban flowers as before.

In the early 2000s, to create an urban landscape, Dien Bien Phu town (formerly Lai Chau province) started planting Bauhinia trees. At that time, Dien Bien Phu town went to buy tree seedlings in Son La and mistakenly bought the Ban flower tree. Bauhinia trees and Ban flower trees are both woody plants with similar appearances. However, Ban flower leaves have deeper lobes than Ban flower leaves; young shoots of Ban flower trees are greener and sweeter than Ban flower trees. Bauhinia trees are harder and taller than Ban flower trees. Flowers of Ban flower trees are sparse and smaller than Ban flower trees...

Around 2007 - 2008, Dien Bien province organized planting of Ban trees on A1 hill using Ban seedlings grown from seeds, 30 - 40 cm high, but the survival rate was not high. Therefore, Dien Bien province organized cutting and pruning of Ban trees from the forest for planting. All funds were contributed by the cadres and employees of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dien Bien province, each person received one day's salary.

Nowadays, the Bauhinia flower has become the “brand” of Dien Bien. In recent years, this westernmost land of the country has planted, expanded and preserved “roads, hills, and relic bases” covered with Bauhinia flowers. Every year, when March comes, Bauhinia flowers bloom white, spreading their fragrance with the wind...

In 2014, Dien Bien province organized the Ban Flower Festival for the first time and it has become an annual festival every March, to commemorate the first battle of our Army at Him Lam base on March 13, 1954 - the opening battle of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign.

According to many experts, in order for the Bauhinia tree to develop sustainably, Dien Bien province needs to develop a detailed plan for planting Bauhinia trees; it should not be planted according to the spontaneous preferences of individuals and organizations. It is also necessary to research and plant many suitable flowering trees. The province also needs to have policies and plans for areas with natural Bauhinia forests to focus on enclosing, renovating, and increasing the proportion of Bauhinia trees; focus on building forest flower parks, in which Bauhinia trees are the main ones, in addition to planting wild sunflowers, peach blossoms, apricot blossoms, cherry blossoms, etc.

Hoa ban is a beautiful wild flower, typical of the Northwest mountains and forests. Preserving these precious values will contribute to the development of culture, society and tourism for Dien Bien province in the coming time.

Ban flower is a beautiful wild flower, typical of the Northwestern mountains. (Source: VNA)

Preserving these precious values will contribute to the development of culture, society and tourism in Dien Bien province in the coming time. (Source: VNA)

For many years, the Ban Flower Festival has been held annually by Dien Bien province in mid-March - right on the occasion of the opening of the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. (Source: Labor)