Early flower blooms in warm weather add to sellers’ woes at festival fairs

Unusually warm weather in Hong Kong has forced flower sellers at Lunar New Year fairs to contend with premature blooms while also navigating a retail landscape where heavy foot traffic masked a tightening of local purse strings.On Sunday, The Observatory recorded a maximum temperature of 26.9 degrees Celsius (80.4 Fahrenheit) at its headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui, matching the record set in 2010 for the same day in the lunar calendar.“Winter has become like summer, which is not a good phenomenon for flowers or farmers,” Li Wing-keung, director of Keung Kee Garden, said.Li, who was running a stall at the Mong Kok fair, said the warm weather had forced farmers to spend significant resources on managing the temperatures of plants to slow down the blooming process.Homemaker Jessica Lam, who buys narcissus every Lunar New Year, said she noticed the plant was cheaper than when she visited the fair at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay last year. Many of the narcissus were already in full bloom due to the warm weather, she said.The crowds at the fair at Victoria Park on Sunday. Photo: Dickson LeeTemperatures aside, vendors also said the poor economy had cooled consumer spending.