TL;DR: In Five Elements feng shui, ornamental plants are not automatically Wood: Vũ Đức Huynh's book Phong thủy thực hành places pine, juniper and cypress under Metal, pomegranate under Fire, the ornamental parasol tree under Earth, narcissus under Water, and orchid and peach under Wood. Under this notion, people choose plants whose element generates or matches their destiny (the nạp âm element of the birth year) and avoid those whose element overcomes it: Metal destiny avoids Fire-element plants, Water destiny suits Metal-element plants. This is a feng shui belief, not a scientific conclusion about the effects of plants on health or fate.
Why are ornamental plants not automatically of the Wood element?
The book Phong thủy thực hành trong xây dựng và kiến trúc nhà ở writes: "Ornamental plants have Five Elements characteristics of Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth; one should not think that because a plant is a plant it therefore belongs to the Wood element"[1].
The basis for this classification is the Five Elements theory; the book describes it as proposed by Chinese thinkers in ancient times and widely used in feng shui, with every form of matter and every living thing belonging to one of the five elements[1]. The five elements are Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth, linked through two cycles. In the generating cycle, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, and Water generates Wood. In the overcoming cycle, Wood overcomes Earth, Earth overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire, Fire overcomes Metal, and Metal overcomes Wood.
This is a feng shui classification, not a botanical one, and feng shui books do not fully agree with one another on the element of each species.
Table of elements for some commonly grown ornamental plants
The book Phong thủy thực hành trong xây dựng và kiến trúc nhà ở (Practical feng shui in home construction and architecture) lists a number of ornamental plants and bonsai by element, with the symbolic meaning of each plant, as follows[1]:
| Ornamental plant | Element | Symbolic meaning (same book) |
|---|---|---|
| Pine, Juniper, Cypress | Metal | Pine: longevity; Cypress: royalty |
| Pomegranate | Fire | Fertility |
| Ornamental parasol tree (not the Đỗ trọng tree, a medicinal herb) | Earth | Uprightness |
| Narcissus | Water | Renewed youth |
| Orchid, Peach | Wood | Orchid: endurance; Peach: friendship |
The book gives no reason for each assignment and no rule for other species. In current feng shui practice, people usually assign an element by colour and form: conifers and silvery-white plants to Metal; red-flowered, pointed plants to Fire; aquatic and deep green plants to Water; green herbaceous plants to Wood; yellow-brown, square-shaped plants to Earth. This is an orally transmitted convention, not found in the books cited.
Do not confuse this with nạp âm names either. Tử Vi khảo luận, discussing the Wood nạp âm, uses the images of willow wood, mulberry wood and pomegranate wood, that is, the three nạp âm Dương Liễu Mộc (Nhâm Ngọ, Quý Mùi), Tang Đố Mộc (Nhâm Tý, Quý Sửu) and Thạch Lựu Mộc (Canh Thân, Tân Dậu). These name the element of a stem-and-branch pair of a birth year, not the element of a pomegranate grown as an ornamental, so they do not contradict the feng shui book that places the pomegranate under Fire. Likewise, Tùng Bách Mộc is the nạp âm of Canh Dần and Tân Mão, while the feng shui book places pine and cypress under Metal.
Which destiny should plant what? Principles of choice by generating and overcoming
The core principle stated by Vũ Đức Huynh is: an ornamental plant may be good for one person but bad for another, depending on whether the two elements of the plant and of the householder generate or overcome each other[1]. On the relationship between these two elements, the author takes one case as an illustration: a person of the Earth destiny is supported by plants of the Fire element, while a person of the Metal destiny suffers harm from that very kind of plant, because Fire overcomes Metal[1].
In common usage, "destiny" here is the nạp âm element of the lunar birth year: a person born in a Giáp Tý year (1984) has the Hải Trung Kim destiny, that is, Metal; a person born in a Canh Ngọ year (1990) has the Lộ Bàng Thổ destiny, that is, Earth. Under this notion, the table for choosing plants by destiny is as follows. The "should plant" column lists plants whose element generates one's own destiny element (the plant's element generates the person's element) or is the same element (mutual support). The "should avoid" column lists plants whose element overcomes one's own destiny element.
| Destiny | Should plant (generating, supporting elements) | Should avoid (overcoming elements) |
|---|---|---|
| Metal | Earth-element plants (ornamental parasol tree), Metal-element plants (Pine, Juniper, Cypress) | Fire-element plants (Pomegranate, red flowers) because Fire overcomes Metal |
| Water | Metal-element plants (Pine, Juniper, Cypress), Water-element plants (Narcissus) | Earth-element plants (ornamental parasol tree) because Earth overcomes Water |
| Wood | Water-element plants (Narcissus), Wood-element plants (Orchid, Peach) | Metal-element plants (Pine, Juniper, Cypress) because Metal overcomes Wood |
| Fire | Wood-element plants (Orchid, Peach), Fire-element plants (Pomegranate) | Water-element plants (Narcissus) because Water overcomes Fire |
| Earth | Fire-element plants (Pomegranate, red flowers), Earth-element plants (ornamental parasol tree) | Wood-element plants (Orchid, Peach) because Wood overcomes Earth |
This table is derived from the two cycles of generation and overcoming and from the list of ornamental plants by element[1]. For those who cannot remember the generating and overcoming cycles, a quick way to remember is: a plant whose element comes immediately before one's own in the generating cycle is good (generating inward), and a plant whose element comes immediately before one's own in the overcoming cycle is bad (overcoming inward). Specifically, for the Metal destiny, Earth generates Metal so Earth-element plants are good, and Fire overcomes Metal so Fire-element plants are bad.
Does getting the element right mean the plant will be good for the householder?
Not necessarily. Traditional feng shui books place heavy emphasis on position and arrangement, not only on the element of the plant. The book Phong thủy học by Tuệ Duyên quotes an old saying: "Planting trees in the house requires the greatest care; a jujube tree planted beside the gate brings good fortune and joy, while a large tree planted in the middle of the house brings many difficulties; a large tree in the house is the seed of misfortune." Under this notion, the same plant is good in the right place and can become a misfortune in the wrong place, regardless of whether its element suits one's destiny.
The book Phong thủy cổ đại Trung Quốc: lý luận và thực tiễn (Ancient Chinese feng shui: theory and practice) records planting by direction: peach and poplar to the East, flowering plum and jujube to the South, pagoda tree and elm to the West, apricot and plum to the North[2]. This ties plants to the four directions rather than to the destiny of the occupants, so it sometimes gives different advice from the "plant by element, person by destiny" system. Feng shui schools use different criteria.
Why does feng shui attach such importance to trees around the house?
The reasons given in feng shui books are not purely esoteric. The book Phong thủy cổ đại Trung Quốc: lý luận và thực tiễn explains: "When trees are lush, vital energy is abundant, spreading shade to shelter the earth vein; this is a layout of wealth and honour"[2]. On the book's interpretation, where roads are wide and the layout is scattered, lacking any screen, vital energy is hard to retain; a strong wind in a mountain gorge will not be subdued without trees to block the cold air current. Read from a modern angle, this is a description of the wind-blocking, microclimate-regulating and shade-giving effects of greenery, expressed in the language of feng shui.
However, one should not stretch this into a scientific claim. That greenery benefits living spaces is widely accepted, but that a particular species brings luck or wealth to a person of the Metal destiny has not been verified by any research, and the feng shui books themselves present it only as a notion of the discipline, without offering experimental evidence. Readers should regard this as a traditional way of arranging space to feel comfortable, not as a remedy for changing one's fortune.
When planting by the Five Elements, must one avoid cacti and sharp-leaved plants?
According to the book Phong thủy học by Tuệ Duyên, they need not be avoided altogether but must be placed correctly. The book divides indoor plants with a feng shui function into two main kinds: broad-leaved green plants to increase prosperity and vigour, and cacti to drive away malevolent forces. Because the two kinds have different uses, they must be placed differently; if they are mixed up, the book holds that skill can turn into clumsiness, or the good effect can be lost altogether.
The book advises placing thorny plants such as cacti, roses and azaleas in the "declining" or "inauspicious" positions of the house to counter misfortune, and not placing them in the wealth position. This is a convention of the book, not a conclusion about the actual effect of thorny plants. For safety, thorny plants in a narrow walkway or near where small children play can easily cause scratches.
Common mistakes when choosing plants by destiny
The first mistake is to treat every plant as Wood, which Vũ Đức Huynh warns against[1]. Those who follow this notion can then miscalculate the generating and overcoming relation between a plant and their destiny; a person of the Metal destiny, for example, may overlook pine, juniper and cypress (Metal) and the ornamental parasol tree (Earth), two groups the book places in elements that suit them.
The second mistake, in the view of current feng shui practice, is to ignore the element of the pot: a ceramic pot is usually counted as Earth, a metal pot as Metal and a black pot as Water, so a Wood-element plant in a metal pot is said to take on Metal. The books cited here do not discuss pots.
The third mistake is to consider only the person's destiny and ignore where the plant stands. Feng shui assigns each direction an element: East is Wood, South is Fire, West is Metal, North is Water, the centre is Earth, and the Southwest corner is also Earth. Under this notion, a Water-element plant in the Southwest corner is overcome by Earth, and the choice weighs three factors: the person's element, the plant's element and the element of the position.
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestions: how to choose plants that suit your destiny in practice
If you want to choose plants by this notion, the simplest way is to find the nạp âm element of your birth year, then pick from the table above a plant whose element generates yours or is the same as yours.
Ornamental plants are first of all there to beautify and cool the living space. If a plant suits your destiny but is hard to grow in your conditions, causes allergies, or has sharp thorns dangerous to small children, there is no need to force it just for the sake of Five Elements theory. The comfort and safety of the people living in the house matter more than any table.
