Permaculture Plant List

Healthy Food, Healthy Environment

Food is easy to grow both indoors (sprouts, ferments and seed raising) and out. Especially if you select food plants that your bioregion grows easily. In many gardening circles, there is great pride in growing exotic plants whilst neglecting indigenous food plants. Let’s flip this. Let’s rediscover and celebrate our bioregional attributes and rebuild natural abundance.

Globally, most people eat annual food crops. We are conditioned to replicate these foods unaware that perennial food plants need less care and offer more and demand less. However, perennial plants are more functional. Perennial plants provide edible leaves and fruit as well as a windbreak, mulch material, fruits, mushroom habitat, erosion management, and wildlife habitat.

Also, there are thousands of forgotten, indigenous and underutilised foods.  The individual, first-time food growing will accept ugly fruits, is willing to harvest bit by bit and takes pride in seed selection. They know the joy of truly fresh food.

Bioregional Strengths

All plants have a preffered environment. not everything we eat grows easily in our bioregion. And sometimes, we don’t care to eat what does grow well. Lets find a way to bring this into harmony. Share recipes and tricks so we can what is happy to grow locally.

Grow it Loud

Food plants grow happily in buckets, in pots, in straw-bales and in street, in the front garden. Food plants don’t need to be hidden in a back corner like many neglected vegetable patches. Given that most people don’t know what food plants look like, there is no reason to not grow food plants as a beautiful display. Perhaps you are concerned that your neighbours are so hungry that they will steal pumpkins. Turn this problem into your solution. Grow extra pumpkins and join the food is free movement.

Food comes in many different packages

Many parts of common food plants can be eaten, including sprouts, tendrils and flowers. Here is a quick list of what grows in the Illawarra, NSW Australia

Edible flowers: Sage: pineapple and fruit salad sage (our favourites), Pumpkin (Curcurbits), Sunflower (flowerhead can be baked whole), Magnolia, Artichokes, Elderflowers, Bluebells, Calendulas, Cornflowers, Hibiscus, pelagoniums, Garland, Nasturtiums, Chrysanthemums (medicinal), Citrus flowers, Brassica flowers (such as brocolli and turnip flowers), Borage, Amaranthus, Violets, Fushia, Gladioli, Banana (cooked after treated by soaking).

Sweetners: Sugarcane and stevia, honey

Medicines: Aloe Vera and Petty spurge.

Tea: Flax, Tea tree, Lemon, Scented tea tree, Bamboo leaf, Mint (Mentha), Backhousia citriodora, violets [Viola], Syzygium anisatum, Orris Root (Melalueca (Leptospermum alternifolia) Petersonii), Lemon grass, Sweet fennel (dulcis var.), Alpine strawberry leaves, Chamomile.

Useful Plants include bamboo for structures and fire-lighting, Paperbark and Banana leaves for food wraps for baking. Hedges and Vines are useful for living fences and privacy screens.

Poultry food and medicine: Protein (snails and insects) is essential, Pigeon Pea, wormwood, Accacia, pumpkin, longifolia, clover seed, cleavers, grasses and dandelion weeds, melon and garlic, sunflowers, fennel, Evening primrose seeds, grapevine leaves. Bamboo and banana leaves are goose food. Weeds are used in the henhouse for bedding and early-morning food. Chicks are trained to eat invasive weeds such as Madeira vine (Anredera cordifolia).

Edible Groundcovers: Sweet Potato (Kumara) edible cooked leaf and tuber, Yarrow (medicinal), Chamomile (medicinal tea), strawberries, New Zealand Spinach Tetragonia tetragonioides, mint, woodruff (flavouring), prostrate grevillia (nectar for cordial), Marjoram.

Shrubs: Blueberries, Raspberries, Hazelnut, Tamarillo, Coffee, Tea (camellia senensis), Chilli Rococo Tree. 

Tall grasses, herbs and canes: Blueberries, raspberries, Taro, Beans, Peas, Monstera, Spinach, Milo (type of Sorghum), Popping Sorghum, Corn, Wheat, Rye, wormwood, perenial Capsicum, Bush Tomatoes, Sage, Oregano, Sugarcane, Banana.

Vines: passionfruit (sweet and banana), Kiwifruit (1 male, 2 female), Basella, varieties of grape, Choko (Chayote).

Edible Trees: Blue Lilly pilly, Pigeon Pea – soil conditioner edible fruit, Indigenous, and edible pods windbreak, birds. Mulberry alba and nigra – choose different varieties. Moreton Bay fig, Sandpaper Banana – fruits fig, Bunya pine (huge tree with large and dangerous fruits up to 35kg each, do not plant near homes or paths), Monstera Deliociosa – (many Australians call this Monsterio), Chestnut Avocado – easily grown from seed, Walnut, Lemon – grow from seed, Chinotto Orange, Native or exotic Hibiscus (flowers) – seed or cutting, Mango, Olives – cutting or seed, Macadamia, Illawarra Plum, Mountain Paw Paw, Damson (Babaco, also known as champagne fruit), Pistachio, Hazelnut, Almond, Saba Nut, Pecan (need male and female), Pear, Rambutan, Grapefruit, Native Guava, Persimmon, Orange (including Seville and Valencia orange), Mandarine (try to obtain early, middle and late varities), Cherry (best in temperate areas, may need anti-aivary), Barbados Cherry (suits subtropics), Feijoa, Ice Cream Bean, Apple.
Smaller harvest from these below- Arbutus unedo – Irish suitable for large sites – increases diversity strawberry tree, Jak fruit, Japanese Raisan Tree, Linden, Gingko Lemonade, Italian Pine, Medlar, Stone Pine, Natal Cherry, Date Palm, Nashi Wine Palm, Lychee, Walking stick Palm, Cabbage Tree Palm (indigenous), Pomelo, Wild Date Palm (also windbreak), Carob (in a dry micro-climate), Silver Birch (edible syrup), Pomegrantes, Sugar Maple, Magnolia (edible flowers) windbreak.
Fruit Fly prone trees [Must be planted within chicken forage areas] Quince, Plum, Custard Apple, Paw Paw – papaya, apricot, Peach, Loquat, Nectarine.
Useful Trees (all indigenous species support beneficial micro-organisms) All trees part of wind channelling toward windmill and away from housing Illawarra Flame (indigenous) flowers, birds, native bees, mulch, windbreak, deep rooted. Red Cedar (Toona Australis) rare indigenous tree, suited to wetter zone, deciduous, good windbreak. Plant only one by itself. Small grevillia, steep flowers for cordial, bird attractant and other Natural insect predators. Banksia Cauarina – nitrogen fixing. Lemon Scented tea tree -tea, antiseptic, bee forage. Grevillia robusta – timber and bee and edible nectar. Elm – 2 varieties or more. Boobialla (soft edible fruit) bird attractant, bushy, windbreak and screen. Agati (African tree has edible leaves and pods).
Acacia longifolia (edible seed) leaves for chicken and stock, soil conditioner, windbreak. A. acuminata (seed) A. Coriacea (seed) A. Holosericea (seed) A. Kempeana (seed and witchety grub) A. Notabilis (seed) A. Oswaldi (seed) A. Retinodes (seed) A. Victoriae (seed) A. Aneura (seed and edible Galls), Acacia main winter forage for bees, good pioneer species, soil conditioning and kindling for wood fire. Blueberry Ash (indigenous). Pine leaf Gebung (winter bee forage).

Here are some useful plants for Permaculture gardens

Plants for A Future

Here is a great reference guide for Permaculture gardens in UK https://pfaf.org/user/Default.aspx