Hi Peaseblossom
I had not heard of Hoa Sua. It sounds very exciting! You have increased my interest in Hanoi. I will be researching this Milk Flower Tree for more information. Is it a large tree? Do you know if it can survive high heat and/or frost?
Does Hoa Mai thrive in Hanoi?
Happy gardening!

I am seeing 120' for this tree. My neighbors in this residential area would complain. I might have to visit Hanoi to enjoy Hoa Sua. My Chinaberry trees will start blooming any day now. I will be enjoying their aroma. :-)

Dirt_dew, "hoa mai" (Mickey mouse flower) is a symbol of spring for Southern VN same as Peach flower for Norhthern VN. Hoa mai is very sensitive with cold weather, so it only thrive in southern VN. I have mine in unheated greenhouse, it would die and come back in spring but ofcourse smaller and take longer to bloom or might not bloom at all. Tolerate down to 65F.

Peaseblossom, Saigon (Hochiminh city) has lots of tamarind trees along the roads. Although I don't look at the tamarind fruit and think of Saigon :) but it was written alots in poems and songs.

TT

I didn't miss my country that bad until you guys brought things from my country up. Now I am missing it so bad!!!! I missed Hoa Mai and coconut juice and lots of exotic tropical fruits and lots of other stuffs!!:(!!
SP

I lived in Hanoi before 1954 and never heard of anything as "hoa sua". I imagined it belonged to the Plumeria family because when you injure the tree, milk would come out. When I see your picture, I am sure it is not. I'll go to VN this month, I'll be happy to see it. K.

Kquat--I think these were planted all over the city much after 1954. No, you're right, it's not plumeria. The flowers are tiny, not beautiful at all, but the fragrance is intoxicating! I hope you enjoy your trip:)

Pease blossom: thank you for the information. By the way, I never heard of pease blossom, is it peach blossom? This year we don't have red peach blossom in Houston because our winter was so mild, global warming, may be. I'll leave Houston on 3/19. I'll get back to you guys in a month or so. well, so long! K.

Hi Kquat! Actually, my nickname is from Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream--it's the name of one of the fairies. I think it refers to the flower of a pea plant.

Hello: I am just coming back from Vietnam. I haven't seen any hoa sua! People say that this is not the blooming season for it. We went to Chua Huong, Yen tu, Ha Long and more.. There, Plumeria trees are so big still not blooming yet. Cassias ( diep vang) are blooming profusely in Saigon. Peaseblossom, please teach me how to post a pictre on this forum. I sure thamk you very much for you help. Kquat.

Kquat--if you have the image uploaded already, just use the following code:

(insert the URL address inside "")

If you have images on your computer, first upload them to a site like Photobucket.com

Hope this helps!