When most people think of feng shui, they think of rearranging furniture and items in the house to encourage positive energy and good luck. But something as simple as the plants you pick—and where you place them—plays a big role in balancing your home’s energy. So when you welcome home your next plant baby, you might want to follow the feng shui principles below to ensure it really enhances your life.
Think About Your Life Goals
Everything from plant selection to plant placement is decided by what kind of balance you need to bring to your life—whether you’re looking to improve your finances, reduce stress, or find more joy. “Just as it is for a human being, it is vital that one seeks a balance amongst the many things that pulls at that person, whether it be pleasure, business, love relationship, social, and so forth,” says Clara Leung, third-generation Old Chinese Feng Shui expert and owner of Clara’s Green House, where she sells plants with homemade soil and planters. “To get started I encourage individuals to pick at least three things that they want to enhance or attract within their lives.”
Choose the Right Plants for Feng Shui
All plants are not created equal when it comes to feng shui, and you’ll want to pick ones that suit your particular goals. Leung recommends snake plants as a perfect all-purpose feng shui plant, which helps protect your home from negative energy. But other fan-favorite plants bring unique attributes to your life. Monstera represents love, happiness, and relationships. If you’re looking to boost your wealth, a money tree brings blends wealth with good energy, and the ZZ money tree is best if your full focus is on your finances, Leung says. And three of the most popular plants for feng shui—the heartleaf philodendron, the birkin plant, and the pothos plant—all help enhance the good energy, happiness, and harmony in your home.
Figure Out How Many Plants You Need
There’s a lot of benefit you can get from a single plant, if you’re just starting out with plant parenthood. But if you prescribe to the “more is more” aesthetic when it comes to your plants, you may need to prune your collection down a bit (or at least, rehome them to a different spot in your house) to achieve the best feng shui. “There is such a thing as having too many houseplants within one setting,” Leung says. Limiting plants is especially important in your bedroom. “Placing more than five houseplants in the bedroom is a big no-no,” Leung says. “The bedroom is supposed to be the most peaceful room of all. Having too many houseplants with many purposes such as finance, love, relationship, job, career, and more will end up killing each other’s energy. So, one to five houseplants for the bedroom is enough.”
Find the Perfect Placement
For the best feng shui, spread the plant wealth around your house. “You can balance the many energies that flow through your home by placing feng shui houseplants in multiple rooms throughout the house, rather than just a single room,” Leung says. Leung recommends placing certain plants in certain rooms. If your plant budget is limited, place a snake plant near the main entryway (the door you use most often) to help block bad energy from entering your home. If want to enhance your love life, show off your monstera in the living room or bedroom—as long as you don’t place it over the head of the bed. “Keeping the space above the headboard free and clear enhances peace and tranquility,” Leung says. Monstera also doesn’t belong in the bathroom. “The bathroom is known as the lowest energy room of the whole home,” Leung says. And avoid placing any plants directly over the toilet. “Placing a ZZ money tree on top of the toilet indicates that money will be lost by being flushed down the drain,” Leung says. To avoid bad plant feng shui, never place a plant pot directly on the floor. “Not having any space between the planter and the floor is synonymous to its air flow being choked,” Leung says. “A stand to support the planter helps the air flow in and out smoothly, which then helps its good energy to be able to flow around freely.”
Nurture Your Plant
Your feng shui doesn’t stop with placing the plant in the right spot. Proper plant care is absolutely essential to reap the benefits. “In order to have your feng shui plants work in the best way possible, you must understand proper plant care,” Leung says. One of the biggest culprits for a less-than-thriving plant is too much sun, as many popular feng shui plants thrive best with indirect sunlight, like the light filtered through a shade. “My favorite shades are the roman shades,” she says. “The whiteness of the fabric brings brilliant light into the room, which are my plants’ best friend.”
