The Year of the Horse starts 17 February 2026.
It's a good year for optimistic action, moving past (or jumping over!) obstacles, getting things done - fast.This could be the year to plant your dream garden, and make it your reality! Horses have abundant stamina, and know when to rest and recharge. Make your garden a peaceful refuge to relax in after the weeding, pruning, mowing, and planting. The Horse sign's lucky colours are relaxing green and sunny energising yellow, so there's plenty of choice to bring you good fortune!
Year of the Horse
To celebrate the Year of the Horse you could nurture some horse-themed plants to bring you lunar luck. Like these!
Clockwise from top left:easy-to-grow indoor favourite ponytail plant, Beaucarnia, which will also grow outside in a subtropical climate. You might spot them flowering in summer too, with clouds of golden-pink plumes; the tangy and delicious horseradish, easy and fast to grow, and packed with flavour when harvested fresh; White Horse rice flower Ozothamnus, a generous native froth of white paper flowers and feathery stems. It's a Fire Horse year, full of energy, creativity, rapid change, and rejection of old ways. Perfect for a garden makeover!
Lucky Lunar New Year Plants
Golden fruits are said to bring coin luck
Lucky Lunar New Year plants traditionally resemble gold coins of fortune - they're fat, round, and yellow.
Especially citrus plants - such as kumquat, citrange, sweet orange, mandarin and lemon trees.Other golden round fruits are also sought-after, such as pineapples, and golden passionfruit.
Gold-flowered plants
These round golden daisy flowers stand in for true golden coin treasure, and promise riches in the months to come. Even if you don't get actual riches, you'll have a garden full of glowing golden blooms, which is a windfall in itself!
Chrysanthemums and their relatives Anthemis, or dyer's chamomile, traditionally bring good luck;, and symbolise the Chrysanthemum Throne of the Japanese royal family, which uses the lucky flower as their symbol.
Golden gazanias are a great choice for big round golden flowers, and easy to grow in most Aussie climates. Golden orange marigolds and paper daisies - aka everlasting flowers - represent long life. Plant native everlastings - like strawflower, paper daisy and fat round golden billy buttons - and you could become immortal!
Look out for plants with 'gold' in their name
These bring you good fortune in the coming year. We suggest Golden Glow buddleia, Gold Malay ixora, Golden Fountain flowering sage, Golden Magic gardenia, Lynwood Gold forsythia, and Asteriscus Gold Coin, sure to bring you riches, for starters. Cheaper than a scratchie or lotto ticket, and you win with flowers every time!You can find more
yellow and gold-flowered plants, and
plants with golden foliage here,
to fill your garden with good luck, year after year.
Red is a very auspicious colour
Symbolising fire, the colour red represents life and energy, and wards off evil. Red flowers and red foliage make it easy to bring this life-giving lucky colour into your garden. The native firewheel tree (Stenocarpus), and Illawarra flame tree (Brachychiton) are coming to the end of the midsummer blaze of scarlet flower at this time of year.They're both tall, but slender enough to fit in many garden spaces.
Plants with 'fire' in the name
These can bring positive energy to your garden, and keep bad spirits away. Flowers resembling hanging clusters of firecrackers, used as decoration at this time of year, are auspicious.We like Jacobinia Firefly; red-and-yellow Fireworks grevillea, and especially Russelia, commonly known as firecracker plant , flowering right now.Discover more
red-flowered plants, and
plants with red foliage,
to fill your garden with good luck all year round.
Chinese Zodiac Lucky Plants
Each of the twelve zodiac signs has its own "lucky plants" - find out what yours are here.Look for the year you were born - remember lunar new year starts late January/early February so it might be different to your birth year if you were born around this time. Why not plant one in your garden and see if your fortune changes? At the very least, you'll get lovely flowers or leaves to enjoy, maybe some shade or scent - and that's pretty good luck!
RAT
- 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008 : lily, African violet (Saintpaulia)OX
- 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009 : tulip, Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema)TIGER
- 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010 : yellow lily and tiger lily, anthuriumRABBIT/CAT
- 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011 : hosta, fittonia, jasmineClockwise from top left: Lilies for Rats, Aglaonema for Oxen, Anthurium for Tigers, Fittonia for Rabbits
DRAGON
- 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012 : bleeding heart vine (Clerodendrum), larkspurSNAKE
- 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 : orchid, passionflower, cactusHORSE
- 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014 : calla lily, jasmine, marigoldGOAT/SHEEP
- 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015 : carnation, primroseClockwise from top left: Bleeding Heart vine for Dragons, Passionflower for Snakes, Jasmine for Horses, Carnation for Goats
MONKEY
- 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004 : chrysanthemum, crepe myrtle, alliumsROOSTER
- 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017 : gladiolus,/a>, celosia, impatiensDOG
- 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018 : rose, cymbidium orchidPIG
- 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019 : daisy, hydrangea, pitcher plantClockwise from top left: Crepe Myrtle for Monkeys, Gladiolus for Roosters, Rose for Dogs, Hydrangea for Pigs
Out With the Old, In With the New
It is traditional in the days before New Year to clean and tidy your house, to sweep away any bad luck from the previous year and make room for fresh good luck. It's a perfect time to tidy the garden too :- deadhead bushes like buddleia, rose, and hydrangea that have finished flowering
- chop back herbaceous perennials such as salvia and lavender
- and tackle weeds that have sprouted after summer showers
