15 Underrated Permaculture Plants for Warm Climates (That You Should Be Growing)
Everyone talks about comfrey, nitrogen-fixing trees, and mulch (affiliate link) crops in permaculture – but what about the hidden gems? The plants that quietly thrive, outcompete weeds, and offer food, medicine, or habitat with hardly any care? These are the most underrated permaculture plants for warm climates, and once you grow them, you’ll wonder why they aren’t more popular.
1. Oregano (Origanum vulgare) – Pest-Repelling & Weed-Smothering
Why It’s Underrated:
People think of oregano as just a kitchen herb, but it’s actually a fantastic ground cover, pest deterrent, and pollinator magnet.
Why It’s Useful:
It outcompetes weeds, survives drought, and repels pests like aphids and cabbage moths. Its flowers attract bees, butterflies, and beneficial wasps.
How to Use It:
Plant it between fruit trees, along garden edges, or around veggie beds to repel pests naturally and reduce weeding.
2. Agastache (Agastache spp.) – The Drought-Proof Bee Magnet
Why It’s Underrated:
This tough herb survives heat, drought, and poor soil while attracting huge numbers of pollinators.
Why It’s Useful:
It’s medicinal, edible, and thrives with zero maintenance. The leaves make a fantastic herbal tea, and the flowers bring in bees, butterflies, and hoverflies.
How to Use It:
Grow near veggie patches or food forests to increase pollination and use the leaves for a calming tea.
3. Chaya (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius) – Perennial Leafy Green
Why It’s Underrated:
Most people don’t even know about it, yet it’s one of the most nutritious leafy greens out there.
Why It’s Useful:
Unlike spinach or lettuce, Chaya thrives in extreme heat, drought, and poor soil. It’s packed with protein, vitamins, and minerals. Very easy to grow!
How to Use It:
Chaya is best cooked before eating it. Raw, it contains toxic compounds, but once boiled, those toxic compounds are neutralised and it’s absolutely packed full of nutrients.
4. Pinto Peanut (Arachis pintoi) – Living Mulch That Fixes Nitrogen
Why It’s Underrated:
A perennial nitrogen-fixer that works as a living mulch (affiliate link) and suppresses weeds without taking over.
Why It’s Useful:
Pinto peanut feeds the soil, retains moisture, and provides fodder for livestock. It handles drought, heat, and humidity – pretty much anything you throw at it.
How to Use It:
Plant it under fruit trees, around veggie beds, or in pathways for a low-maintenance, weed-smothering mulch layer.
5. Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) – Perennial Root Crop
Why It’s Underrated:
Jerusalem artichoke is an incredibly productive tuber crop, yet few people grow it.
Why It’s Useful:
It grows in poor soil, spreads easily, and provides an endless supply of tubers. Plus, the tall sunflower-like stalks create a windbreak or privacy screen.
How to Use It:
Harvest the tubers for roasting or soups, or plant it along a fence line to act as a wind barrier. Check out the photos in the Jerusalem artichoke gallery!
6. Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) – Edible, Pest-Deterring Ground Cover
Why It’s Underrated:
Nasturtium is more than just a pretty flower. It repels pests, attracts beneficial insects, and is fully edible.
Why It’s Useful:
It covers bare soil, reducing weeds and conserving moisture. The peppery leaves and flowers are great in salads.
How to Use It:
Grow around veggie gardens to repel aphids and caterpillars or let it sprawl as a ground cover. Great for edges!
7. Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) – Small With Big Benefits
Why It’s Underrated:
Chives repel pests, attract pollinators, and keep coming back year after year.
Why It’s Useful:
The leaves add a mild onion flavour to your meals, and the flowers bring in bees. It’s also known to help deter aphids, mites, and even fungal diseases.
How to Use It:
Plant around veggie beds to repel pests or as a small, edible border. Chives also grow well in pots and in my Airgarden.
8. Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) – Nutrient-Dense Weed
Why It’s Underrated:
Most people pull it out, but purslane is full of nutrients, including omega-3, and it thrives in poor soil.
Why It’s Useful:
It’s packed with vitamins, survives drought, and grows almost anywhere.
How to Use It:
Eat raw in salads, cook like spinach, or blend into your green smoothies.
9. Plantain (Plantago sp.) – Medicinal Ground Cover
Why It’s Underrated:
A low-growing, drought-tolerant edible and medicinal herb that not many people grow on purpose.
Why It’s Useful:
The leaves are used for wound healing, insect bites, and digestive health. It’s also a great ground cover for compacted soil.
How to Use It:
Chew the leaves and apply it to insect bites. Use it fresh in herbal teas. Eat young leaves fresh and add older leaves to your cooked meals.
10. Saba Nut (Pachira aquatica) – Tough, High-Yield Nut Tree
Why It’s Underrated:
A super fast-growing, low-maintenance nut tree that’s almost unknown in backyard gardens.
Why It’s Useful:
Produces delicious, chestnut-like nuts that are packed with protein. Thrives in tropical and subtropical climates and handles wet or dry conditions well.
How to Use It:
I actually love eating these straight from the pod! The shell is easy to crack with your teeth, and they are very mild-flavoured with a great texture. For extra deliciousness, you can roast the nuts and sprinkle them with some salt. You can add them to all your meals for extra nutrition, too.
11. Aibika (Abelmoschus manihot) – Resilient Spinach Tree
Why It’s Underrated:
A fast-growing, heat-loving perennial vegetable with huge, nutritious leaves.
Why It’s Useful:
Handles extreme heat and humidity better than most greens. They don’t call it Queensland greens for nothing – it loves growing here! It’s also high in protein, vitamins, and fibre.
How to Use It:
Use young leaves raw in salads or cooked like spinach.
12. Panama Berry (Muntingia calabura) – Delicious Nurse Tree
Why It’s Underrated:
One of the fast growing fruit trees you can possibly grow in Queensland. It has multiple uses and thrives in poor soil and harsh conditions.
Why It’s Useful:
It’s one of the fastest-growing trees, perfect for chop-and-drop, creating shade, and attracting pollinators. The berries are sweet and birds (including chickens) love them. It’s also good animal forage.
How to Use It:
Use as a nurse tree for establishing food forests, cut branches for mulch, and eat the fruit straight from the tree. Great for quick shade.
13. Betel Leaf (Piper betle) – Medicinal Groundcover
Why It’s Underrated:
A useful edible and medicinal groundcover that thrives in warm, shady spots where few other edibles grow.
Why It’s Useful:
Used traditionally for digestion, oral health, and respiratory issues, and its leaves have a peppery taste that goes well in salads.
How to Use It:
Let it cover the gound in shady spots, under fruit trees, or along fences.
14. Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) – Fast-Growing Mulch
Why It’s Underrated:
One of the best “chop and drop” plants for permaculture.
Why It’s Useful:
Grows incredibly fast, improves soil fertility, attracts pollinators, and provides endless mulch.
How to Use It:
Cut and drop the leaves as mulch in your food forest, and around fruit trees or veggie beds.
15. Cassava (Manihot esculenta) – Hardy Staple Crop
Why It’s Underrated:
Super easy to grow – one of the most reliable staple crops for warm climates.
Why It’s Useful:
Drought-tolerant, productive, and versatile. You can eat the roots and the young leaves (cook first). Great for chop and drop – but be aware that cuttings will easily root and start growing wherever you throw them!
How to Use It:
Harvest roots for potato-like food and cook young leaves as a nutritious green.
Why These Plants Deserve a Spot in Your Garden
These plants aren’t just easy to grow – they work hard for you, your garden, and the ecosystem around you. Some build soil, some feed pollinators, others provide food with almost no effort. Many do all three. If you want a resilient, low-maintenance garden that thrives without constant input, these plants belong in your patch.
Do you grow any of these? What’s your favourite underrated permaculture plant? Let me know in the comments!
