16 Best Feng Shui Plants and Where to Place Them in Your Home

Answer four questions about the room, the light, any cats or dogs, and your experience, and the finder shows which of the 16 plants fit. The room choices follow feng shui practice, a tradition rather than a measured effect.

Here, you’ll find 16 houseplants that feng shui guides name, with care tips. Each entry gives the feng shui tradition behind a plant's benefits and placement, along with essential care tips:

1. Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana)

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About:

Lucky bamboo is a popular plant in feng shui practice, and it is Dracaena sanderiana, a dracaena rather than a true bamboo. Its tall, upward growth is read as improvement. The number of stalks displayed is read as meaningful and tied to the bagua map.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Upward mobility, nobility, peace, flexibility, wisdom, adaptability, and openness

Where to Position:

Lucky bamboo goes in the Xun (wealth) area of the bagua map. They can also be placed in offices, entryways, and living rooms.

General Care:

Lucky bamboo requires moderate, indirect light and soil that’s kept slightly damp at all times.

2. Orchid Plants (Orchidaceae)

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About:

Many types of orchid plants are lovely choices for feng shui. They’re visually beautiful, and they also have a variety of uses in feng shui practices. With so many different orchids to choose from, it’s essential to be mindful of your orchid’s color, and the number of stems to ensure proper placement.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Fertility and creativity

Where to Position:

Place white orchids in the family and children baguas. A small yellow orchid traditionally goes in the health bagua, which sits at the center of the home. Purple orchids belong in the wealth bagua, and pink orchids with two stems can be placed in the relationship bagua.

General Care:

Provide bright, indirect sunlight, moderate temperatures, and moderate humidity. Water thoroughly when potting medium is not quite dry and allow excess moisture to drain.

3. Air Plants (Tillandsia)

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About:

Air plants are bromeliads with few, wiry roots that work as holdfasts rather than anchors in soil, and they take in water through absorbent scales on their leaves. “Feng shui” literally translates to wind and water. In feng shui reading, air plants stand in for the wind and water elements even though they belong to the wood element.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Balancing, calming, refreshing, and uplifting

Where to Position:

Air plants absorb water through their leaves, so they’re perfect for balancing the energy in any environment with a lot of water. This makes them an excellent choice for bathrooms and laundry rooms.

General Care:

Requires bright to medium indirect sunlight, occasional misting, and a soak in filtered water on a regular schedule.

4. Money Tree (Pachira aquatica)

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About:

Money tree plants are attractive to look at and strongly associated with good luck, and traditionally they are placed to invite positive energy and growth in the wealth area.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Enhance and attract wealth, abundance, and prosperity

Where to Position:

For prosperity and wealth, place your money tree in the southeast part of your home or in your office. In feng shui practice, the east (family) area of your home is another good spot for a money tree.

General Care:

Money trees need bright, indirect sunlight and a well-draining pot and potting mix. Water when the soil is almost dry and allow all excess moisture to drain completely.

5. Snake Plants (Dracaena trifasciata)

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About:

Due to its sword-like, pointed leaves, snake plants are often mistaken for bad feng shui plants. In feng shui tradition, its upright, pointed leaves are read as upward-flowing energy that cuts through stagnant, heavy energy.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Neutralizes negativity and restores flow to stagnate energy

Where to Position:

Place a snake plant in the entryway or living room, or beneath a beam, where its upright leaves are read as cutting through heavy energy.

General Care:

Bright, indirect light and sandy, well-draining soil. Water when the soil has dried completely.

6. Jade Plants (Crassula ovata)

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About:

In feng shui tradition, the coin-shaped leaves are read as a sign of prosperity.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Wealth and prosperity.

Where to Position:

Position jade plants in the southeast corner of your home or office as it is associated with wealth.

General Care:

This succulent does best with full to partial sun, about four or more hours of direct sun a day, a sandy potting mix, and watering only when the soil has dried completely.

7. Rubber Plants (Ficus elastica)

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About:

Rubber plants (also called rubber tree plants) are a type of ficus with broad, round leaves, and in feng shui tradition broad round leaves are read as helping positive energy move through a room. Kept as houseplants, rubber plants are usually trained to 2 to 10 feet, though the tree can reach 100 feet in the wild.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Happiness, abundance, wealth, and enhanced positive energy flow

Where to Position:

Rubber plants are placed in the southeast (wealth) area and also suit dining rooms.

General Care:

Rubber plants require bright, indirect sunlight and a well-draining potting mix that’s kept evenly moist with regular watering. Fertilize regularly during the growing season (spring and summer).

8. Ficus Ginseng Plant (Ficus microcarpa)

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About:

The ficus ginseng (also called the Chinese banyan) is one of the trees popularly used in the art of Bonsai. Bonsai training keeps the trees small, so the ficus ginseng suits small containers, and in feng shui practice it is used for smaller rooms and office spaces.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Good luck, wealth, and prosperity.

Where to Position:

It suits a bright room or office window, since it wants partial shade to full sun, and in feng shui practice it can go in any bagua area where you want a little good luck.

General Care:

Prefers bright light, from partial shade to full sun, well-draining soil, infrequent watering and fertilizing, and warm, humid conditions. It’s also essential to stay on top of common ficus ginseng pests, bugs, and diseases.

9. Calathea Plants (Calathea)

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About:

Calathea plants are a favorite for their lush foliage that features striking stripes, patterns, and colors. When selecting a calathea plant for your home, be mindful of the one you choose. In feng shui tradition, green is read as a healing color, so all-green calatheas are treated like other green plants. However, other calatheas feature white stripes or purple-hued backs, and these colors are associated with their own meanings and areas of the Bagua map.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Feng shui links the calathea to fame and reputation.

Where to Position:

Most calatheas will provide the greatest feng shui benefits when placed in the south of your home or office to improve the energy flow to the fame, recognition, and reputation area of your Bagua map. Purple calatheas go in the southeast (wealth) area.

General Care:

Calathea plants prefer low to medium sunlight and soil that’s kept evenly moist with fairly frequent watering (depending on the season).

10. Banana Plants (Musa)

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Banana plants – the ones responsible for the yellow-colored fruit we all love – are a favorite indoor plant for feng shui purposes. They have large, broad leaves that are associated with strong, positive energy in feng shui practices.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Peace, prosperity, and positive energy.

Where to Position:

Position a banana plant in the southeast of your home or the southeast corner of your office or living room. Make sure the space you choose is large enough to accommodate the banana plant’s size. Although they likely won’t produce fruit when grown indoors, banana trees are still considered fruit-bearing plants, and this makes them appropriate for placing in a large dining room.

General Care:

Banana plants need full to part sun, frequent watering, warmth, and regular fertilizing during the growing season (spring and summer).

11. Peace Lily Plants (Spathiphyllum)

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About:

Peace lilies are often sold as air purifiers, but a 2020 review of 12 chamber studies found that a potted plant removes far too little pollution to clean the air of a room. Peace lilies symbolize peace and harmony, and their function in feng shui is right in line with their symbolic meaning.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Calms, harmonizes, and neutralizes negative energy.

Where to Position:

Highly recommended for offices and home offices.

General Care:

Needs medium, indirect sunlight and a well-draining potting mix. Keep the soil moist with frequent watering.

12. Aloe Vera Plants (Aloe vera)

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About:

In feng shui, aloe vera plants are somewhat contrarian. They have hard, sharp, spiky, pointed leaves that are typically associated with negative, discomforting energy in feng shui. These attributes are also associated with the fire element.

Since aloe veras are plants, they’re also associated with the wood element that feeds fire, further fueling their energy. Despite their spiky form, aloe vera plants are popular houseplants, and feng shui practice gives them a protective role.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Protective energy and combats negative energy and bad luck

Where to Position:

Choose small aloe vera plants and place them in the healing center of your home.

General Care:

Some full sun is okay, but aloe vera plants prefer bright, indirect light. Water infrequently, always allowing the soil to dry completely before watering.

13. Areca Palm (Dypsis lutescens)

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About:

The areca palm (also called the golden cane or butterfly palm) is a favorite in feng shui for its abundant, soft, pinnate palm leaves that will cushion against harsh, negative energies and draw soft, positive energy into a living space. These plants can grow to be quite large, so position them accordingly in a room large enough to accommodate their size.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Brings peace, prosperity, and wealth while attracting positive energy and pushing out bad energy

Where to Position:

Areca palm is highly versatile. It can be placed in the north, east, southeast, or south areas of the home, where it will enhance productivity and draw energy to those areas of the bagua map.

General Care:

Requires a bright location indoors and even moisture in a well-draining potting mix that is never soggy. Fertilize this heavy feeder during its growing season from spring through the beginning of fall.

14. Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)

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About:

The golden pothos is a popular feng shui plant partly due to its resilience and fast growth, which makes it perfect for cultivating in locations that might be challenging for other plants. Its abundant, trailing, heart-shaped leaves are perfect for harnessing positive energy.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Protection and neutralization of negative energy

Where to Position:

These plants can thrive in the darker corners of a home, which makes them the perfect choice for revitalizing the energy in otherwise dead or negative spaces like the bathroom, tops of cabinets, and above cupboards. They can also be used to circle beams that exude negative energy.

General Care:

Can thrive in bright, indirect sunlight to medium or low light. Water when the soil has dried out completely.

15. Peony Plants (Paeonia)

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About:

Peonies are garden perennials that need a cold winter to flower, so they are normally grown outdoors and do not last as year-round houseplants; a cut peony is the usual indoor form. These lovely flowers have endless ruffles of pink petals and have come to symbolize marriage, romance, good fortune, and bravery.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Prosperity, love, marriage, romance, and healing relationships

Where to Position:

Peonies do the most work in the marriage and relationships section of the bagua map. In feng shui practice, cut peonies belong in the partnership (Kun) area, and because plants in earth-element areas are kept small, a small plant or cut flowers suit that spot better than a large plant. Peonies also go in the southeast (wealth) area and the east (family) area in feng shui practice.

General Care:

Peonies require full sunlight and evenly moist soil that’s never soggy. Fertilize during the growing season to encourage blooms.

16. Philodendron Plants (Philodendron hederaceum)

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Many types of philodendron are a favorite houseplant because they are straightforward to grow. The philodendron’s large, heart-shaped leaves are ideal for drawing positive energy into a space with low or negative energy flow. Philodendrons are easy to care for and, in feng shui tradition, are read as calming.

Feng Shui Benefits:

Calming energy, abundance, and enhanced energy flow

Where to Position:

Low-energy spots in the east (family) or southeast (wealth and prosperity) areas of a home, office, or room suit philodendrons in feng shui practice.

General Care:

Prefers medium to low indirect sunlight. Water when the top of the soil is dry, increasing frequency when the plant has more light during spring and summer.

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Cacti, Spiny Succulents, and Spiky Plants

In feng shui tradition, cacti and other spiky plants are considered bad, as their sharp points are read as poison arrows that draw negative energy. Feng shui practice usually keeps cacti out of the main living areas. Their sharp needles are thought to cause discomfort and damage your sense of security.

Fake Plants

If you can, always use real, living plants instead of fake plants. If you must decorate with a fake plant, it should be incredibly realistic (the kind of realistic where you have to feel the leaves to know they’re silk).

Unhealthy Plants

In feng shui tradition, dead, dying, or diseased plants are read as draining the energy of a space.

If you have a sick plant, you can try to revitalize it, but do so as soon as possible and remove all the dead or diseased parts right away. If a plant cannot be saved, remove it promptly.

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The basic principles of feng shui are based on balancing the five elements or forces (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) in a space or design to harness the natural energy (called qi) of the surrounding space in a positive or auspicious way.

How Plants Are Used in Feng Shui

Plants are associated with the color green, which is considered to have healing energy. They are also associated with the wood element, which invites the essential energy of activity and growth into a space. Wood is also associated with vitality, compassion, flexibility, and kindness. Additionally, wood feeds the fire element, which fuels growth, reaching out, and confronting change.

How to Avoid Bad Energy With Plants and Feng Shui

There aren’t necessarily plants that are always considered good and plants that are always regarded as bad in feng shui.

However, when applied incorrectly, placed poorly, or too heavily incorporated with the rest of a space, plants can generate negative energy in feng shui. Additionally, some plants that have spikier profiles or that are unhealthy can be trickier to incorporate into a feng shui design in a way that will draw in positive energy.

This might not necessarily mean that they’re drawing bad luck or harmful vibes, but the plants can block energy or throw the duality of the yin and yang polarity of the five elements out of balance, creating an undesirable energy flow in your space.

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Where a plant sits matters as much as which plant you buy, so a fiddle leaf fig by the bedroom window or a cacti collection at the front of the home won't necessarily harness positive qi in feng shui practice. Plants must be selected and placed mindfully to benefit from their energy-drawing properties.

Using a Bagua Map to Aid Plant Placement and Groupings

Feng shui practitioners use a bagua map that outlines eight areas of life around the cardinal directions plus a ninth, central area (Tai Qi, health). They’re each associated with a cardinal direction, element, number, season, colors, and shapes or textures. The bagua areas include:

• Family (Zhen)
• Wealth and Prosperity (Xun)
• Health (Tai Qi)
• Helpful People (Qian)
• Children (Dui)
• Knowledge (Gen)
• Fame or Reputation (Li)
• Career (Kan)
• Partnership (Kun)

By laying a Bagua map over your home, office, or a room’s floor plan, you can then arrange items and choose design elements that will be most auspicious for each of the eight areas of life. Place houseplants in the Bagua areas where you want to encourage growth, vitality, or change. You can also incorporate houseplants into your design based on the Bagua areas, where wood is the associated element (Zhen and Xun).

Wood fuels fire, so choosing fire elements as Bagua areas (Li) for plant placement will encourage growth in those areas. Feng shui guidance advises against placing plants or other wood objects in the bagua areas tied to the water, earth, and metal elements.

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The best locations for houseplants, according to feng shui principles, include the following areas:

Southeast and East

Like all living plants, these bagua map areas belong to the wood element. Houseplants suit these areas and are linked to family and financial well-being in feng shui practice.

South

The south belongs to the fire element and represents your reputation and fame. In feng shui, the wood element feeds the south's fire element, which is linked to reputation and fame.

Entryway and Living Room

Plants create welcoming energy in the entry space and main living room area of your home. Feel free to go big, integrating large plants into your designs in these spaces.

Dining Areas

Fruit-bearing plants especially suit dining areas and are linked to a family's prosperity in feng shui practice. Just be sure to select plants that feel balanced in the space, being careful not to go too big or too small.

Home Office

In feng shui, lucky bamboo symbolizes prosperity and success, which is why it is a common home office choice.

Beneath Beams

Beams add heavy, oppressive energy and can even be considered a blocking force in feng shui. In feng shui tradition, tall, tree-like plants beneath beams are used to balance the heavy energy beams are said to add.

A few rooms and spots in a home or office are better left without plants, or not recommended for plant placement. These include:

Center of Your House, Northeast, and Southwest:

The northeast, southwest, and center of a home are associated with the earth element, and wood weakens the earth element. In feng shui, a large plant in these earth-element areas is believed to unbalance the energy.

Kitchen:

The kitchen contains plenty of objects that fall into the fire element category. Adding plants here will strengthen the fire element further, creating too much energy in the space.

Bedroom:

The two primary purposes of the bedroom are sleep and romance. Adding wood elements with strong energy, like houseplants creates too much energy of growth and activity to a space that should be restful. Additionally, they don’t serve romantic relationships or partnerships. Instead, add a vase of cut flowers to improve the romantic energy of the room.

Northwest:

The northwest is the Qian (helpful people) area and belongs to the metal element in the bagua this guide uses. Metal and wood forces neutralize each other, leading to too little energy and harming these areas of the bagua.

If you choose to incorporate plants into these locations in your home or office, choose a small plant rather than a large one that will draw more energy.

Feng shui plants are a matter of tradition, so ventilation is the lever for air quality. Whether or not you follow feng shui, a healthy plant in a spot that suits its light makes a room better.

For more indoor plant care and room-by-room picks, see our feng shui guides to bathrooms, balconies, office desks, front doors and kitchens.

Further reading: Discover the Best Feng Shui-Friendly Hanging Plants.