Traditional Chinese Medicine Fire Element Garden

Kimberly Burnham
2 min readApr 22, 2022

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Found Poetry from The Red Sunflower Diaries

Red Tulips, poetry by Kimberly Burnham Photo by Valeria Bold on Unsplash

Creating a Traditional Chinese Medicine garden full of each of the five elements can be done with flowers, plants, trees, elemental features. Red is the color of the fire element, which includes the heart, the small intestines, the pericardium or heart protector, and the endocrine system based triple heater or triple warmer. In Traditional Chinese Medicine we think of the element and the color as being supportive of the organs.

Meditating on red flowers for example can soothe the heart. Sitting by a warm bon fire can support the endocrine system (hormones).

Some red flowers include red roses, red poppies, red sunflowers, red okra, bushes with red hawthorn berries, red raspberries, and so many more. Create a blush of red in your garden or near a fire pit or even on a porch with potted plants.

TCM Red Fire Element

Red most important
red okra red sunflowers
fire element

four organ systems
heart small intestine protect
and triple warmer

“Red is the most important color. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, red okra and red sunflowers like me are associated with the fire element, and four organ systems (the heart, the small intestines, the pericardium or heart protector, and the endocrine system based triple heater or triple warmer).“

~Red in The Red Sunflower Diaries, Why Everyone Should Garden and Share Seeds by Kimberly Burnham.
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Sunflower-Diaries-Everyone-Should-ebook/dp/B09QLKZ3G2

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Kimberly Burnham

(She/Her) Writer, Poet, currently working on a memoir, Mistaken for a Man, a Story for Anyone Struggling to Feel Comfortable in Their Own Skin, Clothes, & ...