Plants aren’t just pretty decorations for your home. They can also bring luck to various aspects of your life if you follow feng shui principles when arranging them.
If you’re new to feng shui and aren’t quite familiar with its principles, don’t worry! Here’s a comprehensive guide on the best plants to grow and the best way to arrange them in your living room.
How do you arrange plants in a living room for good feng shui?
The living room is one of the most important areas in the home, as it is where you, your family, and your guests gather and spend the most time. That’s why it’s important to make sure everything here is arranged in a way that will invite good feng shui.
Arrange the plants in areas where they can enhance the flow of energy or chi in the living room. This means placing them in areas that aren’t too cluttered to avoid blocking positive energy flow inside the house.
You should also refer to the bagua map of your living room and place plants in the corresponding zone that aligns with what you want to attract into your home.
What is a bagua map?
A bagua map is a tool used in feng shui to analyze the energy flow within your home or living room. It divides the space into nine areas, each corresponding to a specific aspect of life.
You can add plants, symbols, and colors to a particular area you want to improve. For example, you can add a money tree to the wealth area of your home to attract prosperity into your family.
What are the nine zones of the Bagua map?
The nine zones of the Bagua map are the fame and reputation zone, love and marriage zone, health and family zone, center zone, creativity and children zone, knowledge zone, career zone, and helpful people and travel zone.
Each of these zones has its own corresponding color and element, which can help you attract the kind of luck and energy you want.
- Wealth and Prosperity Zone
This area is located in the southeast part of the living room or home, around the back left corner. You should add lush, upward-growing plants in this area to attract prosperity and fortune.
- Fame and Reputation Zone
The fame and reputation area relates to your reputation and public life. It’s located in the southern area of your home or living room.
This area is best enhanced by adding elements of fire or anything red, orange, or yellow. Brightly colored plants are also recommended.
- Love and Marriage Zone
If you want better luck in love, relationships, and marriage, consider adding blooming pairs of plants in the southwest part of your house or living room. Plant them in terra cotta planters, too, for better energy flow.
Do not put single plants here since the area is specifically for couples. Always add the plants in pairs.
- Health and Family Zone
Located in the center-left part of the living room, the health and family zone represents the health and well-being of your family and your relationship with them.
If you want to ensure your family’s health and well-being, add wooden elements to the area. Lush, round-shaped plants are also recommended for this area.
- Center Zone
The center area of the home is basically where all aspects of life intersect. It represents the overall balance in your life.
In this area, you can typically add any plant that’s considered lucky in feng shui. Yellow flowers are also good for this area since the area is also associated with the color.
- Creativity and Children Zone
The creativity and children zone is in the middle right section of your home and is associated with self-expression, creativity, and youthful energy. The element for this area is metal, so add a few metal items here for good luck.
As for plants, those with round leaves are the best choice. It’s believed that they can help improve your creativity.
- Knowledge Zone
Add upright plants on the northeast part of your home or living room for personal growth and good luck with your education. You can also add a couple of blue items in the area.
- Career Zone
The career zone, located in the northern part of your home, represents your life path and ambition. You can boost this area by adding some resilient plants or any black decors since it’s also associated with water and the color black.
- Helpful People and Travel Zone
The helpful people and travel area in the northwest part of the house represent mentorships, connections, and travels. To meet more people who can help you, add plants that symbolize support or those with air-purifying qualities.
This area is also associated with gray, white, and metal elements. If you already have a lot of plants at home, you can just add some metal items or white and gray decors.
The Best Plants for the Living Room According to Feng Shui
Rubber Plant
Botanical Name: Ficus elastica
Size: 6 to 10 feet
Light: Bright, indirect light
Watering: Only when the top 1 to 2 inches portion of the soil is dry
Feng Shui Benefits: Prosperity and happiness
The rubber plant, scientifically known as Ficus elastica, is one of the most popular houseplants worldwide, not only for its easy-to-care-for nature but also because of its feng shui benefits.
When grown at home, they’re believed to bring prosperity and happiness. Hence, they are often placed in the wealth zone of the home to attract fortune and in front doors to welcome positive energy into the home.
Orchids
Botanical Name: Orchidaceae
Size: 1 to 3 feet tall
Light: Medium, indirect lights
Watering: Only when the top portion of the soil is dry or about once a week
Feng Shui Benefits: Luck in love, relationships, fertility, and family
While orchids are often used to symbolize nobility and elegance, they’re actually more associated with love and relationships rather than wealth in feng shui. That’s why many feng shui experts recommend placing them in the house’s love and marriage zone.
Orchids are also quite colorful, so they’re also great for the fame and reputation zone of the house, especially the red and orange varieties of the flower.
These plants can be quite fussy, though, so they’re recommended only to those who have prior experience taking care of plants.
Fiddle Leaf Fig
Botanical Name: Ficus lyrata
Size: Up to 10 feet tall
Light: Bright, indirect light
Watering: Wait for at least half of the soil to dry before watering
Feng Shui Benefits: Cleanses negative energy in the air and attracts more positive energy
Another popular houseplant that is great for feng shui is fiddle-leaf figs. Their huge, round leaves are believed to promote good energy or chi flow inside the home.
They have an upward growth habit and can grow up to 10 feet tall indoors, which is another great characteristic to look for in plants when it comes to feng shui. They promote stability and continuous growth.
Fiddle-leaf figs are often placed in living rooms, as they are believed to draw in more positive energy. They can also cleanse the negative energy in the room, ensuring a harmonious relationship between the family and guests.
Jade Plant
Botanical Name: Crassula ovata
Size: 3 to 6 feet tall
Light: Bright, indirect light
Watering: Only when the upper portion of the soil is dry
Feng Shui Benefits: Luck, wealth, abundance, and good health
Nicknamed “money trees,” jade plants are among the most auspicious plants in feng shui. They’re believed to bring in good luck, wealth, and good health, so you can often find them in the homes of families who are avid believers of feng shui.
They’re best placed in the home’s wealth and prosperity, family and health, and career zones. But they can also be placed in the other zones, as they’re generally considered to bring good luck in different aspects of life.
Lucky Bamboo
Botanical Name: Dracaena sanderiana
Size: 1 to 5 feet tall
Light: Bright, indirect light
Watering: Only when the top few inches of the soil is dry
Feng Shui Benefits: Good luck and prosperity
As the name suggests, lucky bamboos are considered lucky in feng shui. Depending on the number of stalks, these beautiful plants can bring you luck in different aspects of your life.
The most common in homes is three stalks, which represent happiness, wealth, and longevity. Five stalks of lucky bamboo attract harmony and good health, so they’re often placed in the center or middle left part of the living rooms.
For bigger living rooms, you can add a pot of 21 stalks of lucky bamboo. This can bring good health, career success, harmonious relationships, and luck in wealth.
What plants should be avoided for good feng shui?
Plants with thorns or prickly leaves are generally considered not good in feng shui. They are believed to draw in negative energy and create disruptions in the house, so you should avoid placing them in your living room.
This is why many feng shui experts do not recommend cacti and succulents despite their resilience. You should also avoid adding roses with thorns in your bedroom or your home’s love and marriage zone.
Aside from these, it’s considered unlucky to add dying or unhealthy plants to the home. If your plant already has drooping leaves, it’s best to trim them down.
Other Tips on Arranging the Living Room for Good Feng Shui
Attracting good feng shui into your living room and home doesn’t just end with adding plants to the zone that you want to attract. You also have to make sure that the furniture doesn’t interfere with the flow of energy in the room.
Here are some more tips that you can follow when arranging your living room:
- Place the couch in a commanding position.
The commanding position is basically just the area where you can have a good view of the door while sitting on the couch. This will allow you to have a good view of the living room and welcome guests while still feeling secure.
- Keep the living room clutter-free.
Having too much stuff in the living room can block positive energy from coming in. Make sure it remains clutter-free so that positive energy can flow more freely in the space.
- Let natural light inside the room.
Make sure that the living room receives natural light and good airflow during the day. It’s believed that keeping the room bright can bring in more positive energy inside.
- Add something that represents each of the five elements in feng shui.
The five elements in feng shui are earth, metal, water, wood, and fire. Having one of each inside the room can bring balance to the room, allowing for better energy flow.
You can add any flat or square items to represent earth, round shapes for metal, wavy decors for water, rectangular items for wood, and triangular decors for fire.