Flower Power

Greetings VSA!

I hope some of you got the chance to see the Philadelphia Flower Show this year! This year's show was British themed. It's pretty cool to see different people from all over the country come together to witness the beauty of nature. I was working at the show for the entire week, and boy am I grateful that the chaos is over. 

Anyways, being at the Flower Show made me wonder what Vietnam's national flower is.  

Currently, the lotus flower is taking the lead in the national flower process.  

According to Vietnam News, the lotus flower is likely to become Vietnam's national flower, following voting in the selection of a flower to represent the country.  Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved a request from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to choose a national flower for Vietnam.  The ministry asked people from across the nation to vote for the national flower, in which most people had voted for the lotus flower. 

A little something interesting:

Lotus flowers are symbols of purity. According to esoteric Buddhism, the heart of beings is like an unopened lotus: when the virtues of the Buddha develop therein the the lotus blossoms. This is why you often see Buddha sitting on a lotus in bloom.  They are plants symbolic of the religion Buddhism.