Since brick-and-mortar flower shops also operate as wholesalers during the night, taking up most of the available pavement space, flowers have to adopt a guerilla approach, offloading their flowers wherever they can.

During these early hours between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m., retail customers buying in small quantities are few and far between. Instead, flower shops—especially wet market stalls—use this time to stock up on inventory so that when they open at around 8:00 or 9:00 a.m., they have fresh blooms for sale.

If a shop owner were to travel all the way to a farm to source flowers, they would be limited to just one or two types, but at the predawn market, they can find a wide range of both local and imported blossoms. 

Once the florists have sourced their stock, they call taxis to transport it back to their shops. Some buyers do not even show up in person, but ask the farmers to load their purchases into a designated taxi or van. Florists prefer to hire taxis because van services usually impose extra late night fees. Night shift taxi drivers take these jobs as their last trip of the night, while morning shift drivers take them as their first job of the day. For the latter group, delivering flowers to neighbourhood flower shops puts them conveniently close to residential areas where they can pick up customers heading to work or school. Besides taxis and vans, some florists have even been known to hire red minibuses and school buses.

As flowers are a highly seasonal crop, local flower farmers do not go to the Flower Market year-round. For instance, those growing lilies, gladioli, and chrysanthemums—traditional Lunar New Year flowers—usually begin selling after Mei Nga (尾牙), the 16th day of the 12th lunar month (15 January this year). You will find the largest number of flower farmers at the market on a nightly basis during the peak period between Mei Nga and the 15th day of the first lunar month. However, during the rest of the winter harvest season, which runs from November to Ching Ming in April, most farmers only go to market on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This is because florists and wet market flower stalls sell more on the weekends, and so prefer to stock up on Fridays, sell through the weekend, and restock on Mondays.

After the Lunar New Year, some flower farmers continue to appear at the predawn market. In the lead-up to Ching Ming, they sell flowers associated with tomb-sweeping customs, such as gladioli and willow branches. In the summer, some cultivate sunflowers, gardenias, and white jade orchids, though this yield is significantly smaller than the Lunar New Year harvest. Therefore, flower farmers have to go all out for Lunar New Year, during which they earn the vast majority of their annual income. 

How do farmers sell their flowers?

Currently, local flower farmers specialise in cut flowers and peach blossoms. Those who sell at the predawn market mainly grow lilies, gladioli, and chrysanthemums. They start planting around the Chung Yeung Festival (which falls in early-to-mid October), and begin harvesting three or four weeks before the Lunar New Year. In recent years, climate unpredictability has shortened the growing season, so that some flowers bloom as early as the 11th or early 12th lunar month (late November to early January). Even though these early blooms fetch only a third of the price, farmers still have to bring them to market or else they would go to waste in the fields. 

Although farmers try to gauge their planting time in anticipation of the Lunar New Year, growing speeds and flowering times are affected by the weather, which may cause flowers to bloom too early or too late. As a precaution, farmers must plant extra batches calculated to mature both before and after the peak period, a practice known as “Dai Jou” (大造, Cantonese for “big harvest”).

During the Dai Jou period, flower farmers harvest flowers during the day then place the stems in water or in cold storage. The blooms are then counted into bunches of set size, with the number of stems per bunch depending on the flower type. Gladioli are sold 20 stems to a bunch, and four bunches to a bundle. Lilies are sold in bunches of six, because historically, lily buyers were foreigners who sought them by the half-dozen. 

Farmers prioritise regular clients who not only place large orders 4-5 days before Lunar New Year, but also source a small amount of stock from the first harvest right after Mei Nga. Florists do this to give their customers a preview of their incoming stock, and to express their gratitude towards the farmers. Then, during the peak period when flowers are in short supply, farmers prioritise their most loyal customers. 

The decline of local flower farming

Competition at the Flower Market is fierce, with vendors seeing each other as rivals. Certain farmers (who are members of the Hong Kong & Kowloon Flowers and Plants Workers General Union) are permitted by the government to set up in front of Mong Kok Stadium for a week before the Lunar New Year, but non-union members, and union members outside of that brief period, must compete for street space with other wholesalers (i.e. the brick and mortar shops) and their delivery vehicles. 

In addition to limited space, farmers face additional challenges; they have seen their prices undercut by as much as 30-40% by imports from places like mainland China, Taiwan and Malaysia. Although local flowers are superior in freshness and length of blooming time, many retailers lean towards imports as the lower prices grant them higher profit margins. 

Farmers say that sales have been slow over the last couple of years. They also worry about losing access to their prime selling location. Annual police road closures before the Lunar New Year might deny access to their trucks, and there is the looming possibility that the government might revoke their permission to use the Mong Kok Stadium. In that case, they would be pushed out to Embankment Road or Duke Street, at great cost and inconvenience. With all the difficulties involved, few younger farmers are willing to go into the business, especially since flower production requires large amounts of pesticides, which conflicts with the younger generation’s more ecologically-minded ethos. Hong Kong’s two dozen-odd remaining flower farmers are aging. 

For most of us, our mental image of the Flower Market consists of daytime scenes of colourful, vibrant flower shops. But at night, it has served for many decades as local flower farmers’ biggest trading hub and information exchange. However, as the remaining farmers reach retirement age, this role will gradually diminish. 

(This article is written by contract researcher Ng Cheuk Hang.)