Feng shui encompasses five components found in the surroundings: earth, wood, fire, water and metal. Because plants signify wood, the sole element said to have existence, they can be the most effective objects to manifest good feng shui energy. However, not all of woody plants are equally potent antidotes to bad fortune. Trees with full, lush foliage create masses of the “chi” life force which deflects poisonous energy. Provided that plants produce new development, the influence continues.
Deciduous Trees Not Favored
In 2000, Professor Lin Yun, a feng shui master, told that the Friends of the Urban Forest organization in San Francisco to choose evergreen trees over deciduous ones. The perpetual green of the former, he said, symbolizes vigorous life. When deciduous trees are bare and dormant in the winter, they cannot create good energy or repel the poor. The Chinese art of harmonizing the components in the surroundings treats the evergreen pine tree as a symbol of longevity. For this reason, the tree is frequently honored in Oriental landscape painting and poetry. The western tradition of bringing a Christmas tree into the house at the coming of winter is rooted in the eastern commendation of evergreens. Therefore, the greenery livens the indoors, while deciduous trees out have stopped their growth.
Weeping Trees Especially lousy
If a tree is deciduous and also has a weeping growth habit, like a willow, it’s doubly out of favor in feng shui. Though these trees have a graceful beauty, their kind suggests sadness. A weeping tree can never attract happy energy. Even less jarring than a willow, a weeping beech should not be implanted in a residential garden. Since its foliage grows so densely, over time the weeping branches could spread out to envelop the home and bring great misfortune about the inhabitants.
Yin and Yang of Autumn
A simple rule of feng shui, yin and yang, states that the equilibrium of complementary opposites governs life. Contrasting warm, bold colors — yang — with cooler, softer ones — yin — would be an example. In the fall when their foliage turns, deciduous trees display strong yang energy in parallel to their evergreen neighbors’ yin. For this brief interval, deciduous trees experience their most advantageous feng shui energy. Even so, anything that’s growing is considered as better. The spring, a time of new development, has a more auspicious connotation than fall, the start of a period of dormancy.
Inauspicious Debris
After deciduous trees like their fall limelight, they lose favor using feng shui. Any stagnation or violation of tidiness or upkeep is contrary to feng shui teachings. When dead leaves accumulate on the ground, good energy in the vicinity dissipates. The leaf piles give off an air of defeat. If the leaves fall into a pond or other water feature, the stream of the water, which equates to riches, ceases, making a deciduous tree even less desirable.