Where to Position Jade Plants in the Home (Essential Guide)
One of the houseplants with the most enduring charm, Jade Plants thrive in a wide range of indoor and outdoor environments and offer a host of uses and benefits. As long as you can provide a warm and somewhat humid environment with enough light, you can enjoy the beauty of this plant. There are a number of considerations when finding the right placement for this plant in the home. Use these tips for practical and spiritual factors in selecting the best position in your home for a Jade Plant.
Where to Position Jade Plants in the Home – The Essentials
Jade Plants should be placed in the southeastern corner of the home or by the front door, according to Feng Shui. For best care, keep them near a bright light source, in a warm environment, and away from drafts.
About Jade Plants
Crassula ovata is the scientific name for the variety of houseplants most commonly known as the Jade Plant. Yet many other members of the Crassula genus, which includes over 200 distinct species, are colloquially called by the same name if they’re kept as houseplants.
Its close relatives include many other succulents like some Stonecrops and Strings of Buttons. The genus is part of the larger Crassulaceae family, which includes the rest of the Stonecrop varieties. Jade Plant shares many features along with the rest of the family, such as succulent leaves and a preference for warmer temperatures.
Jade Plants are native to Africa, with Crassula ovata found explicitly in South Africa and Mozambique in particular. It’s native to only a limited area around the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. Thanks to cultivation and trade, it’s now grown throughout the world and has naturalized to areas with warm climates and no freezing winter weather.
While these plants are widely grown as both houseplants and outdoor landscaping features, they’re somewhat irritating to handle. Plant owners should wear gloves when pruning, propagating, or repotting the plants since the sap irritates the skin.
It’s also one of the plants that aren’t recommended for keeping with pets in the home. Jade plant toxicity is only mild for humans but far more serious for cats and dogs. If you decide to keep one of these plants around a pet, make sure to keep it in a room where the animal can’t access it.
Jade Plants and Feng Shui
Feng Shui is a form of Chinese spiritual practice that involves perfecting the placement of particular objects in the home and the surrounding environment. It was once used for laying out major buildings and other projects, but today it’s primarily practiced on a more personal scale.
The Jade Plant is symbolic of wealth, good fortune, and money in the tradition of Feng Shui. This is primarily due to its proliferation of dark green leaves with a shiny coating that has a luxurious look. The plant’s growth habit with multiple stems also inspires a symbolism of wealth and multiplication in the Chinese tradition.
You’ll commonly see Jade Plants grown in businesses and restaurants where the owners practice Feng Shui. It’s often grown in hopes of bringing more business in, which can work on both a spiritual and practical level since live plants improve the atmosphere. Yet they also serve a similar purpose when grown at home instead.
You can try growing a Jade Plant at work for its wealth-boosting value if you can install a plant light and a timer to supply it with enough light.
Where to Place Jade Plants in the Home
Using the principles of Feng Shui can guide you to the ideal placement for valuable plants like the Jade Plant. Since the Jade Plant is often called the Money Tree or Wealth Plant, it’s usually recommended for placing near the door. This helps invite new energy into the home and helps you access new financial opportunities.
Putting the plant near the front door, in particular, ensures that this money-related energy flows in but not back out of the home. Yet there are more considerations to Feng Shui than just placement near a door.
Each home is best arranged according to a diagram known as the Bagua Map. This eight-part diagram is overlaid on your home’s floorplan after being arranged according to the North to South orientation of the structure. This helps you find certain corners and locations that offer the strongest flow of energy for specific purposes.
According to the Bagua Map, the southeast corner or direction offers the strongest flow of wealth and financial energy. Placing a Jade Plant in this part of the home can magnify the effect it has on your wealth.
If you must choose between the Southeastern corner or placement near a door, a secluded corner can better protect the Jade Plant from drafts and temperature changes. In general, Eastern locations offer the strongest boost to the wealth-boosting powers of this plant.
Jade Plants can be located almost anywhere in the home if you’re willing to provide a strong plant light for at least four to six hours a day. Placing the houseplant near a window can provide enough light, but it also runs the risk of causing sunburn or draft exposure. It’s better to provide artificial lighting than to try on rely on natural lighting alone in most homes.
Look for an area with stable temperatures around 60 to 70 degrees and good humidity, which may or may not align with the other principles of Feng Shui.
Where Not to Position Jade Plants in the Home
There are a few places that aren’t recommended for Jade Plants according to the principles of Feng Shui. Putting this symbolic plant in the wrong part of the home could lead to monetary losses rather than gains, at least according to those practices.
Keep it out of the bedroom. Since it’s a stimulating plant believed to help start new projects and add energy to those already ongoing, it’s not a good choice for the sanctuary of the bedroom. It’s also recommended that Jade Plants should stay out of the bathroom. In Feng Shui, it’s believed that the energy of plants like this one can go down the drain with each toilet flush or shower. It’s also a practical tip since most bathrooms lack the direct light or space for plant lights that Jade Plants require, which can lead to leaf drop and other problems such as yellowing or brown leaves.
On a practical level, it’s best to keep Jade Plants away from doors and windows where they could be exposed to harsh drafts of cold or hot air. It’s also an issue if they’re exposed to too much direct light at once. It can trigger sunburn and leave some of the leaves discolored and damaged. If you decide to keep a Jade Plant near the front door for its Feng Shui value, try setting it back to protect it from drafts.
Where to Place to Position Jade Plants Outdoors
Since they can’t thrive outdoors in climates that freeze over the winter or drop below 50 degrees F, Jade Plants have a limited range for landscaping. However, you can move your indoor Jade Plants in the summer each year to let them enjoy the warm temperatures and bright light. Make sure to slowly acclimate your plants to brighter light to avoid sunburn and lost leaves. Look for areas where the Jade Plants will receive afternoon shade since the sun can be too direct during that part of the day. Morning sun is a better choice for preventing damage and drying.
Patios and porches are a good choice for keeping Jade Plants nearby where you can water them regularly as needed. These structures also give the plant some protection from harsh direct light and drying winds that might be too cold or hot for them.
Essential Jade Plant Care
Jade Plants grow best when planted in a loose soil mix that offers fast drainage. This prevents root rot and ensures the plant dries out well between waterings. A mix made for succulents or orchids is a good choice, or you can try making your own mix with a blend of fluffy organic materials and non-absorbent materials like perlite.
Jade plants need bright light or will grow tall and spindly with undersized leaves. Ensure they get at least four to six hours of bright light but no direct sunlight that could burn the leaves.
Keep this houseplant between 60 and 70 degrees F during the day. It’s fine for temperatures to fall as low as the mid-50s at night. Humidity is best kept above 60% around the plant to encourage glossy leaves and dark green coloration.
This plant generally only needs fertilizing once or twice a year to encourage strong growth. Repot the Jade Plant only when you notice signs of the plant being rootbound, such as white root tips poking out of the pot’s drainage holes. Prune the plant as it matures, removing the top growing tips to encourage growth further down. Neem oil and insecticidal soap will help keep common Jade plant pests and diseases at bay.
Wrap Up
Jade Plants are relatively easy to care for, making them an excellent choice for a practice like Feng Shui. Simply supply enough light and protect them from temperature changes, and you’ll enjoy beauty year-round from these succulent plants. If you find the right position in your home for a Jade Plant, you may even enjoy a boost in your wealth and financial status to boot.
If you’re looking for your next Jade plant to add to your collection, see our in-depth guide to the best plant shops delivering Jade plants nationwide.