Wild flowers perfume in Da Lat

Vivid scents and colours abound in the Central Highlands city of Da Lat
Nestled in a valley surrounded by the mountains of Lang Bian Plateau, Da Lat is compared to a young girl being embraced by the strong open arms of a stalwart man. And in his arms, the girl nurtures hundreds of kinds of flowers.
I was very impressed by the flowers receiving special care in parks, gardens and private houses. But, I was completely stunned by the rich stock of wildflowers, growing naturally all around. There were various popular ones with their local names of bim bim (Convolvulaceae) and lan dat (Cymbidium), as well as an uncountable number of unnamed flowers. All of them silently give off their sweet scent and bring vivid colours to the city of flowers.
The wildflowers were on the roadside, under the shadow of trees, on hillsides and pushing their way up between stones or house walls...It seems the flowers appear everywhere.
Famous flowers like tulips, roses and cherry blossoms, as well as wildflowers such as as da quy (wild sunflower), forget-me-nots, me dat (oxalis) can be found in abundance here.
A local old man, upon seeing me lose myself in the sight of a bright yellow hill of da quy a few kilometres away from centre of Da Lat, told me that the flowers were first brought to rubber fields in Lam Dong in Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) by the French in the late 19th century.
At that time the plant was used as a natural fertiliser for coffee and rubber gardens, because its stem contains a lot of potassium, calcium and magnesium, which serves as an organic fertiliser.
Da quy
can disperse well, because its light seeds can easily fly with the wind; the seed sprouts easily when it hits soil. That’s why da quy has gradually overwhelmed wild areas in the plateau, the man explained.
The flower became popular with local residents and started appearing in literature in the 1970s. The man also said that when the da quy blossoms, it is an indication of the approaching dry season locally. It blossoms brightly in winter, and paints whole hills and the plateau with its yellow petals.
Da quy was used as the symbol of the Da Lat Flower Festival in 2005. It is also considered the most typical wildflower of the Highlands of the southern central region.
"Sometimes when I strolled on hilly paths through the pine forests of my motherland, I suddenly felt relaxed after sniffing some wild smell. I closed my eyes and imagined a dream world. Then I opened my eyes and tried to discover where that wild smell came from. And there... deep inside the bushy grass were tiny flowers," reminisced Nguyen Van Phuoc, who has taken pictures of Da Lat wild flowers for more than 20 years.
It is the kind of extraordinary wonder few people pay attention to. Phuoc has collected images of more than 150 kinds of wild flowers.
Uong Thai Bieu, a journalist in Da Lat, once noted that flowers, especially wild flowers make up the soul of the city.
Flowers and the fanciful foggy atmosphere are like invisible strings tugging on Da Lat citizens, who mostly came from other areas, to settle down in the peaceful highland.
"I used to have the intention to leave the city for HCM City, where I have more chance of promotion," Bieu said. "But I have been caught by those invisible strings to settle down here."
Strolling on Da Lat’s slopes, shivering with strong gusts of wind, the fresh atmosphere suddenly inspired me to hum the lyrics from a song by Tran Kiet Tuong: "Dear Darling Mimosa, where are you from? Mimosa, why did you come here? Da Lat’s mountains and hills wave majestically… Da Lat with its immense sky and water…"
Many streets in Da Lat lure visitors with their various coloured flowers. Many cherry blossom trees are planted around Xuan Huong Lake, and hundreds of mimosa trees are planted along a new road, also named Mimosa. Da Lat authorities intend to plant many other flower trees on new roads and name the roads after the flowers.
The mimosa tree, which originally came from Australia, is three to six metres tall. It has bright yellow flowers and leaves that are green with a silvery luster. It blossoms two or three times each year and flourishes during the sunny seasons.
Da Lat has two types of mimosa trees: long and short-leafed. The mimosa has become a symbol of Da Lat girls, as they often like to place the mimosa between the pages of a book and send it to their boyfriends. The flower retains its sweet scent, which is a reminder of the girl’s affection.
Another kind of wild flower I want to name here is the pansy, because I love its white and violet petals. This flower is popular in Da Lat, not only because it adapts well to the local climate, but it adds to the romanticism that locals hold dear to their hearts.
The flower has been grown in Da Lat since the French colonial days. Young sweethearts give each other the flower to express their warm feelings, just as its French name "pensee" suggests.
The pansies grow widely, especially around villas which bear its name such as Pensee 1, Pensee 2 and Pensee 6.