When flowers bloom and fancy leaves look waxy, it means your home energy is thriving, vibrant and healthy. Plants add a powerful life chi that is beautiful, inspiring and soothing – they add life to any personal environment, instantly softening dour moods. Plant energy is meaningful because plants produce the life giving oxygen we breathe in daily. This is so precious and the better they grow, the greater is the supply of life enhancing chi all around you.
Beautiful well-cared-for plants bring good feng shui to the living spaces of our homes, although I often wonder if it is perhaps the other way around… that good feng shui is what causes plants to thrive and stay healthy, rewarding us with stunning blooms not just infrequently but on a daily basis. Let me share some of the beautiful plants that live with me.
I love the flowers in my garden. I feel especially pleased each time I see new blooms open and this occurs almost on a daily basis because I am such a keen gardener. It never ceases to amaze me how many different varieties of plants I have collected over the years. There are richly-hued sprays of orchids that flower all round my garden in the branches of the trees that fringe my home. The orchids love being high up where they can get enough air, and their flowers are thick and large and velvety. I cannot believe they actually bloom for me! These are the orchids I get sent for New Year’s and birthdays… and they get planted in my garden because they have seamlessly become part of my home.
I also have quite a collection of the many layered hibiscuses, and these give me blooms every day! The flowers last for only a day, but because they are so free-flowering, they remind me of the impermanence of life but also the joy of seeing newly minted flowers each day. Watching them thrive like this tells me they are responding to the care we give them, and this gives rise to pleasurable sensations.
It is so obvious that the good energy that pervades my home has much to do with how my different varieties of plants thrive. Living as I do in the tropics, one of the great benefits has to be our extremely fertile soil and incredible weather. There is a ton of sunlight and copious amounts of rain water! Our trees grow faster here than anywhere else in the world.
Part of the reason Malaysia enjoys such amazingly good feng shui has to be these fertile surroundings of ours. This is an aspect of life that makes me embrace our environment so much. Indeed, just about anything will take root and grow. Seeds dropped by birds sprout into plants so quickly! Surely, fertility equates with good feng shui!
Anyone can have “green fingers” in Malaysia, and with so many varieties of plants available, we are quite spoilt for choice. Our forests are dense with vegetation and many young people here trek our verdant hills and mountains for plant varieties that are quite exotic indeed. For sure, many of the hybrid orchids that are now so commonplace in so many gardens were originally taken from our fabulous jungles.
But energy like everything else requires maintenance, and part of having a healthy garden lies in the preservation of the plants we grow in our space. These are living organisms, and they respond so much to even the most minimum care. When ignored and abandoned, plants often wilt, become straggly and look starved of food and attention. It is simply not possible for them to show themselves at their best when they are ignored. On the other hand, when you groom and care for them, ALL plants become beautiful and will reward you with an outpouring of appreciation that can overwhelm you.
It is so obvious that the good energy that pervades my home has much to do with how my different varieties of plants thrive. Living in the tropics, one of the great benefits has to be our extremely fertile soil and incredible weather. There is a ton of sunlight and copious amounts of rain water! Our trees grow faster here than anywhere else in the world.
Sometimes even leafy plants no one knew had flowers can suddenly surprise you with a magnificent shower of blooms. This happened to me and brought a joyous feeling that was quite uncanny. I have discovered that the energy around the Buddhas and other holy objects in my garden is so rich with a spiritual presence that any kind of plants placed there always flourish and do extremely well. They grow sturdy and strong and even the tiniest plants send out buds that become large flowers.
It is this aspect of gardening that makes it so therapeutic, making us relax and dispelling all the stress that working life can bring on. Take it from me, an hour or so spent with your plants each day is as beneficial as time spent doing anything else.
I usually reserve the mornings for my plants. Unless I am travelling, I indulge myself each day by walking round my garden chatting with my plants and going ooh and ahh… always praising them. It is easy to do this, as truly, my flowers and plants are so healthy and so beautiful.
Walking for an hour this way is also excellent exercise and gives me a chance to do some walking meditation as well.
The hours of 7am to 9am in the mornings are Dragon hours – very auspicious for everyone to enjoy their time with their plants. This being a Rooster Year and the Dragon being the secret friend of the Rooster, Dragon Hours are excellent times for enhancing the energy supply of the human body…
In the morning, the air is infused with fresh sunlight that is gentle and incredibly soothing. It is a great time to also do deep breathing, bringing plenty of fresh air into my body. When you do this near healthy plants and thriving trees, you are filling your body with fresh oxygen. Let the air around your home refresh you and let the energy of your own home permeate your being at all times. This is the way to stay connected.
And to take care of the twilight hours, plant a nice jasmine plant to fill the air with its precious scent. It can be quite magical and can inspire the inner poet in you to manifest, especially on a full moon night.
All aspects of these practices are part of enjoying great personal feng shui, and in case you want to know, the hours of 7am to 9am in the mornings are Dragon hours – very auspicious for everyone to enjoy their time with their plants. This being a Rooster Year, and the Dragon being the secret friend of the Rooster, Dragon Hours are excellent times for enhancing the energy supply of the human body.
Occasionally, my plants get infested with pests and disease, and that is when I give these pests fair warning to leave the plants well alone, as I shall be spraying insecticides three days later. It is necessary to give this warning, as I have no intention of causing massive disaster in the pest world! Once a week at least will see me with my little basket and clippers, going round my plants cutting away dead leaves, trimming away older stems, and making sure nothing is allowed to rot on top of the soil that sustains the plants.
And of course, at least once every 25 days or so, we take turns feeding the plants with good old fashioned organic manure. They so love this regular pampering and this encourages them to send out new shoots and wonderful new buds that add so much colour to my patios and to my garden.
If you do not live on a landed property, see if there are gardens around your apartment block. These days, our housing developers are very mindful of the surroundings around their apartment blocks and condominiums. Many of these gardens are professionally maintained, so it is a good idea to walk amongst the plants daily either in the mornings or evenings. When you admire and praise the plants in any garden, even if they are community property, an inner awareness awakens; you will feel the energy around suddenly infuse you with a wonderful lightness of being that can be quite extraordinary.
