Vastu plants, and what the tradition actually says
Search for vastu plants and you will find a hundred pages telling you a money plant in the south-east corner will change your finances. None of them cite anything, and most of them are selling you the plant.
Here is the more useful version: what the tradition actually holds, where the tradition and the horticulture happen to agree, and what none of it does.
What vastu is, in one paragraph
Vastu shastra is a body of traditional Indian architectural practice concerned with orientation, proportion and the placement of things within a building. Plants appear in it as part of that placement. It is a tradition and a belief system. It is not a testable claim about plant biology, and treating it as one does it no favours.
The placements that are commonly held
North-east — the Ishanya corner. Traditionally kept light and uncluttered, and where tulsi is most often placed, raised off the ground.
East. Associated with beginnings and health. Jasmine and parijatak are commonly kept here.
South-east — the Agni corner. Associated with prosperity. Money plant and jade are the two most often placed here, and money plant is traditionally trained upward rather than left to trail down.
North. Associated with wealth and flow; the other common position for tulsi.
Where the tradition and the plant agree
This is the genuinely interesting part. North-east and east are the directions that get soft morning light and no harsh afternoon sun in most Indian homes. That is exactly what tulsi, jasmine and parijatak want.
Several of these placements have survived because they are good horticulture wearing older clothes. Put a plant where the tradition says and it often gets the light it needs — which is a better reason to follow the advice than the one usually given.
What it does not do
It will not clean your air. It will not cure anything. It will not change your income. Those claims are everywhere online and not one of them is substantiated — the Advertising Standards Council of India has ruled against air-purification claims of this kind, and the widely cited plant-and-air study was run in sealed chambers, not rooms.
We list a vastu direction on every plant that traditionally has one, because people ask and it is part of why these plants are kept. We do not attach an outcome to it.
The plants people actually ask about
Tulsi, money plant, jade and jasmine, in roughly that order. Every plant page here shows its traditional direction where one exists, alongside the light and water it actually needs — so you can follow the tradition, or follow the horticulture, and see where the two point the same way.
Common questions
Which direction should a money plant face?
In vastu tradition the money plant is placed in the south-east, and trained to climb rather than trail downward. This is a traditional belief, not a claim about any outcome.
Where should tulsi be kept?
Traditionally in the north or north-east, raised off the ground, and not in the south. That also happens to be where it gets the morning sun it needs — tulsi is a full-sun plant and sulks anywhere darker.
Do vastu plants purify the air?
No. Air-purification claims about houseplants are not substantiated, and ASCI has ruled against advertising of that kind in India. A plant transpires moisture into a room, which is measurable; it does not meaningfully filter it.
Is vastu placement compulsory?
No. It is a tradition, offered here because customers ask for it. Every plant page also states the light and water it actually needs, which is what determines whether it lives.