Buckwheat Flower Blossoming Season

When winter comes, buckwheat flowers blossom in Dong Van district, Ha Giang province. Often, people seed buckwheat after they harvest maize and other food crops. The flower is characterised by triangle-shaped pistils and this is why local people call buckwheat the ‘triangular flower’. Previously, the mountainous people planted winter food crops for daily demand after the maize was harvested. Supplementary food crops were usually beans, buckwheat and winter vegetables.

 

 

Buckwheat is sown in November and December. Buckwheat flowers characteristically open in pinkish white and then turn light purplish. Buckwheat’s average height reaches 50 - 70 cm, but those that are well cared for may reach more than 1 metre. Its seeds are a kind of lightly greasy, aromatic grain, commonly used to make bread. Its stems and leaves are used as feed for cattle. For those who are lucky enough to taste buckwheat bread, it must be an unforgettable experience given the irresistible aroma of bread.

 

 

Currently, buckwheat area is small, but when winter comes, mountains are in full bloom, particularly in Dung La and Pho Cao areas in Dong Van district or along some ways to Dong Van and Meo Vac and along the road from Dong Van to Meo Vac through the legendary Ma Pi Leng Pass.

 

 

In winter, visitors to Ha Giang cannot only view majestic natural landscape on top of Ma Pi Leng Peak and unique cultural identities but also explore beautiful, mysterious buckwheat on this spectacular land.