The lotus, Vietnam’s national flower
Ask anyone in Vietnam for the national flower and the answer is the lotus (hoa sen). Vietnam has never officially designated a national flower, but the lotus is the one Vietnamese people themselves point to: a constant motif in pagodas and the emblem of the national airline.
What the lotus means
The lotus grows from the mud at the bottom of a pond and opens clean above the water. In Vietnam that image stands for purity, and for keeping your integrity in hard circumstances. A folk verse that every schoolchild learns puts it this way:
Trong đầm gì đẹp bằng sen
Lá xanh bông trắng lại chen nhị vàng
Nhị vàng bông trắng lá xanh
Gần bùn mà chẳng hôi tanh mùi bùn
“Nothing in the pond is as lovely as the lotus: green leaves, white petals, golden stamens… It grows by the mud, yet never smells of mud.”
The lotus is also a central Buddhist symbol: the Buddha is shown seated on a lotus, and Hanoi’s One Pillar Pagoda was built to look like a lotus rising from the water.
The lotus in daily life
- Lotus tea (trà sen)
Hanoi’s West Lake is famous for green tea left overnight inside lotus flowers to take on their scent, one of the most prized gifts in the North.
- Seeds and stems
Lotus seeds go into sweet soups (chè hạt sen), and young lotus stems into a crunchy salad (gỏi ngó sen).
- Leaves
Rice is cooked and wrapped in lotus leaves (cơm lá sen), which give it their fragrance.
When and where lotuses bloom
In the North the season is summer, roughly May to August, at its peak in June and July; West Lake in Hanoi and the ponds around it are the classic place to see it. In the Mekong Delta, the lotus fields of Dong Thap, around Thap Muoi, flower over a longer season, and in Hue the Tinh Tam Lake is known for its lotus.
Can you send lotus flowers?
Fresh lotus is seasonal and short-lived. The flowers are sold as closed buds, open over a day or two and last only a few days once open, so they are rarely used in bouquets. If lotus matters to the person you are sending to, for an altar, a Buddhist family or a memorial, message us and we will tell you whether it is in season and what we can arrange.
For a lasting gift in the same spirit, families in Vietnam often choose a moth orchid pot, which stays in flower for weeks.
Other flowers with a meaning in Vietnam
- Yellow apricot blossom (hoa mai)
Tết in the South: luck and prosperity.
- Peach blossom (hoa đào)
Tết in the North: a fresh start.
- Chrysanthemums
Yellow ones for longevity; white ones belong to funerals and altars, never to a gift for the living.
Our guide to Vietnamese flower customs covers which flowers to send for Tết, funerals and birthdays.
Sending flowers to Vietnam from abroad
Nothing travels internationally: Flosa is a florist in Vietnam. You order on our site, the flowers are arranged in Vietnam on the day of delivery, we deliver across the country, and we send you a photo when they are handed over. You pay online when you order, by international card (Visa, Mastercard, JCB) or PayPal; no Vietnamese bank account is needed. Delivery dates and times run on Vietnam time (GMT+7).