The “marvelous” ancient apricot tree of the garden

Through the introduction of Hue Yellow Apricot Association about the most “marvelous” apricot garden in Hue today, we went to witness the apricot garden at 3 Ton That Canh Str., Hue City in preparation for the 1st Hue Yellow Apricot Festival – 2022, which takes place from January 9th to 19th, 2023.

Upon our arrival, we thought the garden was like any other normal apricot gardens when looking from the outside. Nevertheless, the deeper you go inside, the more convinced you will be that this is a “marvelous” apricot garden.

Regarding the total number of apricot trees, this garden seems modest. However, when it comes to “ancient apricots” with a large root and a strange shape, I doubt if there is any similar apricot garden in Hue. This apricot garden owns at least over 50 “ancient” apricot trees.

This apricot garden owning over 50 “ancient” apricot trees

The most prominent ones in the garden are two “ancient” apricot trees with a lifespan of up to several hundred years. The stumps have a diameter of nearly 0.5m, and the roots are bizarre, which requires pots with a volume of nearly 10m3 to fit the huge roots of these two ancient apricots.

According to the apricot seekers, “ancient, unique, beautiful” (ancient refers to the life span, unique refers to the uniqueness, and beautiful refers to the shape and flowers) and “first roots, second trunks, three branches, four flowers” are two most important criteria to evaluate a “marvelous” apricot tree. Therefore, with its possession, this apricot garden is rated by apricot seekers in Hue as the best in the whole province, or even in the whole Central region.

Not only in terms of appearance, the value of the apricot trees here is also huge, with the lowest ones costing several hundred million dong, and the highest ones being up to several billion dong.

An ancient apricot tree having a unique shape

A customer who came to buy apricots shared that it was not only its flowers, but its shape also made it “enjoyable” to seek for apricot. The more valuable the older apricot tree is, when being placed in important positions and whose shape not being “locked in” and placed in a pot, the more valuable it will be, which makes the real apricot seekers want to own it.

With the desire to build a brand image of the land of yellow apricots of Vietnam for Thua Thien Hue, Hue is preparing to organize the first Hue Yellow Apricot Festival.

The rare varieties of apricots still in possession, as well as , the diversity of apricot gardens, especially those with valuable ones, will contribute to building the brand image of the land of yellow apricots in the coming time.

By Duc Quang