Looking to grow and decorate lucky trees and lucky plants inside or outside your home or business establishment? Now is the perfect time to narrow down your choices with this quick roundup of the trees and plants that are not only easy to care, but also prized as auspicious in the Chinese feng shui:
Lucky Bamboo Plants.
Symbolic for good luck and success due to their innate resilience, strength, and ability to grow quickly, the lucky bamboo plants attempt to balance the five (5) natural feng shui elements in the home or office, I.e., wood, metal, earth, water, and fire, which are represented, respectively, by the plant itself, glass vase or coin, rocks, water itself, and red ribbon. Lucky bamboo plants can be planted as stalks or grown into beautiful shapes, like a pyramid.
Place your lucky bamboo plant in a glass vase (or ceramic vase with a coin) that is filled with natural river rocks for support and at least an inch of low-chlorinated water and tie a red bow around the glass vase. Feed them with a drop of fertilizer, if you can, to keep their roots healthy. Place lucky bamboo plants in a shady spot in the home or office where you want to invite more blessings for good luck and harmony, such as on the counter of your business place or the living room of your home. In Asia, tying red ribbons on the stalk of the lucky bamboo plant during the Chinese New Year is a common practice and they are put in a special table together with other auspicious objects, like the golden ingot.
Jade Plant (Crassula ovata)
The jade plant, also known as the Asian money tree, is considered as the ultimate plant symbol for prosperity in many Asian cultures. It is frequently grown as a bonsai in Asian homes, business places, and gardens due to its ability to grow into a beautifully lush bonsai tree and is used as the model of the jade mini gemstone trees of Asia, or the artificial plant decoration with leaves that are shaped from jade.
The jade plant features ovoid-shaped or coin-shaped succulent leaves in the shades of Jadeite, thus its name as Asian money tree and Jade. As a feng shui cure, it is usually placed in the entryway or the southwest corner of the home, restaurant, or business office to strengthen the energy and flow of money. Jade plants can grow as an indoor or outdoor plant, ideally put in a location where they can get direct sunlight, watered to keep their soil moist, and their leaves regularly freed from dust and dirt. You can also add pebbles on top of their soil to facilitate the drainage of water.
Money Tree (Pachira aquatica)
The Pachira aquatica is famed as the Chinese money tree because of its 5-lobed palmate leaves, which is considered lucky in Asia and associated with the five (5) feng shui elements of water, earth, fire, wood, and metal. It is often distinguished for its braided stem and flourishing leaves that are sometimes made to create a round-shaped canopy and it is widely used as an ornamental plant in Asia, especially business offices and malls, grown as a bonsai, or given out as gifts during the Chinese New Year.
As a native plant to the wetlands and swamps, the money tree thrives well in moist soils and in locations that are sunny with a partial shade. When planting them indoors, place them in a brightly-lit corner and turn them regularly to keep them growing straight and leafing evenly.
Moth Orchid (Phalaeonopsis orchid)
Asians have recently seen the popularity of the Phalaeonopsis orchids, or Moth Orchids, as a decoration in major business establishments, like shopping malls, as Chinese entrepreneurs use them both as a lucky and inspiring Chinese décor for their business. The moth orchid’s flower shape, which is believed to resemble moths in flight, essentially makes for its symbolism for good luck, particularly referencing the same to the characteristics of moths as nocturnal creatures that do not stumble in the dark and that are never afraid to go close to the light.
Moth orchids can be grown in most orchid potting medias, like the bark of trees or charcoal, ideally placed in shady outdoors with low light, and watered just enough to keep their potting media moist. Their flowers can bloom for a week to two (2) months and is prized as one of the most expensive wedding flowers in Asia’s tropical countries.
Peace Lily.
Peace lilies are easily distinguished for their white flowers that resemble an anthurium, and they are prized not only for the way they help to purify the indoor air from toxins, but also as a symbol for good luck and harmony. Peace lilies are an auspicious feng shui plant decoration that is fairly easy to tend, it is best placed on a spot where it can acquire indirect exposure to sunlight, and a pot of peace lily typically yields flowers that bloom for a very long time.
Citrus and Lime Trees
Citrus and lime are considered as symbols for good health, longevity, wealth, and prosperity, and along with the lucky bamboo and money plants, decorating a citrus or lime in the home during the Chinese New Year is said to foster good luck, wealth, and good health to the family and business the whole year. Citrus and lime are frequently grown as a bonsai, or decorated in their artificial form, in the entryway of the home or business places to foster success in every endeavour and the positive flow of money.
How to Choose and Use Plants as Lucky Chinese Décor?
Flowering plants, plants with round or smooth-edged leaves or canopy, and with leaves that are clustered in an auspicious number are commonly considered lucky plant decorations, as well as any plant that is believed to purify the air. Avoid putting spikey and thorny plants on the front of your home – whether inside or outside the fence – as such is said to break the positive flow of wealth and success and aim to arrange plants in pairs to keep the balance of yin and yang within your place.
Most importantly, consider the plants that you would like to care following your capability to care for the same so that you can always keep them healthy and clean, which is exactly what they need to invite the positive flow of chi.