Chinese New Year fruit and flower meanings

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, expect to see homes and businesses teeming with colorful flowers and kumquat plants to usher in the new year. This is about more than spreading festive cheer, however — each bloom bears its own special significance.

Here’s a cheat sheet of flower and fruit meanings for some of the holiday’s most popular plants:

Orchids: fertility, abundance, innocence and elegance

Pussy willow: growth and prosperity

Narcissus: good fortune and prosperity

Peach blossoms: longevity, growth, love and — you guessed it — prosperity

Peonies: beauty and charm — particularly of the feminine persuasion

Gladiolus: career and personal growth

Lucky bamboo: plenty of good luck

Mandarins and tangerines: even more good luck!

Oranges: abundance and joy

Pomelos: good luck and family unity

Grapes, plums, jujubes and kumquats: luck, wealth and fertility

See more Heritage snippets here.

[Updated Jan 2022]