AVANT GARDENER
Happy lunar new year!
Feb. 1, 2022 marked the beginning of the Year of the Water Tiger. In the Chinese zodiac, the tiger is associated with fierceness, a competitive nature, and growth. The animals of the Chinese zodiac also represent different days of the month and different times of the day, and the tiger in particular represents 3 to 5 a.m., the hours when farmers wake up.
The beginning of a new year, whether solar or lunar, also presents the idea of a new beginning: the chance to start over and the chance to change one’s luck for the better. People like to fill their spaces with charms in the hopes that these will attract luck to them, and this includes plants that people think of as “lucky.”
What makes a plant “lucky?” According to Agriculture magazine’s in-house plant expert, “Plants that are easy to grow, with broad, shiny leaves, tend to be tagged as lucky plants. Why broad leaves? Because the greater the surface area, the more vigorous it is in producing oxygen.” There’s a high probability that something is named “___ of the year” for marketing reasons, but there’s more to this than just commerce. For longer than has even been recorded, humans have practiced sympathetic magic, also called imitation magic, a type of magical system that uses objects symbolically related to supernaturally influence a desired outcome.
This is why plants that tend to get called “lucky” are either very easy to care for, or finicky but offer great satisfaction when cultivated in the right way.
For example, we reported that this year’s lucky plant is the baby rubber plant (Peperomia Obtusifolia). The plant was chosen for many reasons, the most important of which is that it can generally be left alone, and is easily propagated through leaves and cuttings.
Another quality that associates the baby rubber tree with luck is, “it produces lots of branches. It signifies bounty or many members of the family who feel blessed,” our plant expert says, adding that “Its leaves are shiny and round, just like money.”
In Feng Shui, where you place a plant can also determine how much luck it can bring. Each placement will largely depend on the Chinese zodiac sign of the head of the household, but a popular belief is that a plant should be placed just outside the main entrance. “It’s like welcoming the guest or the chi to get inside your house,” our plant expert says.
“So the plant should be on the welcoming side, not at the back of the door. Why? Because you’re encouraging good luck or the chi to exit your house.” We’d like to note that we are not Feng Shui experts, and while this is a general rule, it can be different from what a Feng Shui master will prescribe as their predictions and suggestions are highly specific and will be determined by many factors including a person’s birthday, birth time, and so on.
People collect charms to enhance their luck, but one must always remember that the real “luck” comes from the opportunities one takes, and not from the amount of trinkets (or lucky plants) they have. That said, owning a plant or two will definitely make a room feel brighter, and it may be this feeling that is making their owner feel luckier!