Outer beauty, inner peace: lotus stragglers bid adieu to summer

Mon, Aug 31, 2020, 10:02:00

Lensman Nguyen Ha Phu captures the last of the bright and beautiful blooms in Hanoi as the lotus season draws to an end.

Lensman Nguyen Ha Phu captures the last of the bright and beautiful blooms in Hanoi as the lotus season draws to an end.

A resident of Hanoi's Thanh Tri District, photographer Phu is an ardent lotus lover. Every summer, he frequents several gardens and waterlogged areas in Hanoi and neighboring provinces to take photographs of the national flower in various stages.

He says the flower evokes inner peace. As the latest summer winds down, Phu visited a lotus research center in Gia Lam District on Hanoi's outskirts to compile an album titled "Sac Sen Cuoi Ha" (The Shades of Lotus at the End of Summer). More than 100 species of lotuses bloom at the center at 234 Ngo Xuan Quang Street.

Le Tien Hiep, who heads the lotus research center, said: "We are planting and conserving many precious lotus species from Vietnam and the world - from the southern province of Dong Thap and Saigon's Cu Chi District, the central town of Hue, the northern province of Bac Ninh, Hanoi's West Lake and other species from other Asian countries, Australia and America." The place attracts many tourists and photographers every year, he added.

A white lotus in full bloom sheltered by leaves glinting in the summer sun.

The petals of this lotus flower carry a pink tinge at their top edges and a yellow shading at their bottom.

Another lotus species with pink and yellow tinged buds get set to bloom.

A "thousand-petal lotus" flaunts different shades of pink.

A dark pink lotus flower blooms alongside several buds.

Typically, the lotus season starts late May and lasts until early September, depending on the region. They are said to be at their beautiful best in June and in September, as autumn knocks on the door.