As Spring Festival or Chinese New Year is around the corner, people in Rudong county, Nantong, have been picking their festive flowers or plants to celebrate the festival.

Young people have increasingly become the main consumers of festive flowers, with macaron colored butterfly orchids, light pink orchids, and styled kumquats being the most popular ones.

Local butterfly orchid bases have contributed much to the hot sales of festive flowers.

The standardized greenhouse of Xinyue Butterfly Orchid Base in Yingquan village, Caobu town has been busy handling orders. Over 60 varieties of butterfly orchids have been neatly arranged and are ready to be dispatched.

"This year, 60 percent to 70 percent of our flowers are red, which fits the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year," said Liu Jiashuo, who manages the base.

Flowers add to the festive atmosphere. [Photo/WeChat account: rudongfb]

Flower shops in the urban area also enhance the festive atmosphere. Oushang flower shop has launched a special plant product this year, composed of silver willows, lanterns, and tassels, paired with Year of the Horse ornaments, symbolizing good deeds.

Whether they are used to decorate homes, given as gifts to relatives and friends, or simply bought as totems of good fortune, flowers and plants with symbolic links to the Chinese New Year have been flying off the shelves as the nation prepares to collectively usher in the Year of the Horse in the coming days.