Sweet and juicy mango, bananas, healthy avocado, amazing passion fruit – everybody loves tropical plants. Even coffee and tea would never exist if not the tropical climate.
Tropics – they seem to have what everybody dream of. Perfect weather, exciting nature, easy life, beautiful beaches, interesting cultures, and so on and so on… But what is also good to realize, this climate is also a dream for most of the plants on our planet. Where the temperature never goes down to zero, where there is plenty of water and sunshine, plants will always explode in their growth and diversity.
Why would we cultivate tropical plants, if there is plenty of others?
People are getting more and more aware, how important it is to eat as much local as possible. But it seems that with tropical fruits we always find
an excuse to buy fruits produced on other continents. Just because we really love them – and we don’t see other options to grow it locally.
That’s where our motivation started. We had always big admiration for tropical plants. Not only for the yield, but also because they are such gorgeous beings. And also we liked the challenge to provide them good condition in a permaculture way – without unnecessary energy cost of heating. If you are new to the permaculture, here is our little fun introduction: What is Permaculture
Living in the center of Portugal on the land with south-west slope, we have a really good start to it. Still during the winter temperature can drop to about -2°C. The summer air gets really hot and dry, which can be as bad for the tropical plants, because they are used to high humidity in the air.
If your are interested in growing tropical plants in even milder climate, I would suggest you definitely have a look at Orchard of Flavours. It’s an astonishing place in south Algarve, that is specifically focused on growing tropical edible plants and does it with a great success. The webpage itself already provides the reader with very useful knowledge.
Here is our list of tropical plants and crops which can be successfully grown in Portugal
Please, remember that there is plenty of different microclimates in this country and your success will vary depending on your site’s characteristics.
Avocado
This one is a really easy in our mild Mediterranean climate. It can grow outdoors, although in the first couple of years of growth it likes sheltered space. It’s good to protect it from the frost and wind. There are ways to germinate them from the seed. First crop is possible after approx. 5-7 years from the germination. Hass and Bacon are the two popular varieties, which we had good experience with.
One thing worth considering though is the possibility of irregular intense frosty winters, that might happen in Portugal every couple of years. In one of those we almost lost our young trees, because we left them unprotected. Simple transparent plastic tarp or typical frost-protection geotextile will do a great job, but I don’t recommend to cover the plant for the whole winter season. It might take quite an effort, but it’s better to cover the plants only during the night, and keep them open during the day. This way you will avoid rotting of the foliage from the humidity in the places where the textile touches the plant.
Mango
It is strictly tropical crop, so be ready to keep it in a really good place during the winter. It’s even possible maintain it in small shape and keep it indoors, at least during the frost season. We experimented with the variety Osteen. The tree itself was very fragile, in need of support stick. The young tree spent its first 2-3 years full time in the greenhouse nursery before we got it, that’s why it never developed the stability against winds. During the winter it stayed in the geodome greenhouse on our farm and it fruited twice. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to rescue it in a particularly cold winter 2020/2021, when we observed record of -5 degree Celsius during the night.
Passion Fruit
Others call it maracuja, which is way more popular in Portuguese. Passion fruit is an evergreen subtropical climber with stunning flowers. Taste of the fruit explain its name very well. There are plenty of varieties suitable for different needs. We grow the possum purple, the most popular for the juicy and sweet fruits. Although maracuja can grow outside, it benefits a lot being in the greenhouse. Our two plants are with us less than three years now and last season we had amazing harvest. Especially nice is that the fruits don’t mature all at once, so the season takes even couple of months. I almost forgot to eat other fruits, because the taste of the passion fruit is just so addictive…
Pineapple guava
In Portugal called feijoa, it’s a subtropical bush or tree, which we have planted along the food forest as a windbreak. It can be easily outside in our climate, but it will prefer sunny spots. Interesting detail about this crop is that it’s very helpful to pollinate it by hand, since in the natural environment the plant would use a help of a birds, that are not common in Portugal. It gives a fruit in size comparable with passion fruit. The taste is significant and fresh.
Tea plant (camellia sinensis)
A bush native to China and Southeast Asia, it’s very commonly used all over the world. As every tropical plant it loves plenty of sun, high temperature and rich soil. It is hard to germinate the seeds, mainly because the seed has to usually travel a long time and it should be used fresh. We managed to get our bush from the local nursery. We keep it in a large pot, so we can move it around to find perfect position along the year. It tends to get fungi disease on the leaves, so plenty of air circulation and sunshine is needed. It also loves very fertile soil. The leaves can be harvested bit by bit, just like with lemon grass.
Banana
Their beautiful leaves give a tropical, holiday feeling to our farm. The variety which grows perfectly fine with occasional frosts is the Japanese Musa Basjoo, with tiny fruits, not really desirable for human consume. However you can also use flowers for cooking, and banana leaves are great material for wrapping grilled fish. Traditionally in Japan leaves were also used to produce textiles. Banana plants are also famous for their ability to filter grey water and are used for that purpose in permaculture designs. That is also why we planted ours right below the bathroom.
Papaya
Papaya is just as frost fragile plant as mango, but really easy one to propagate from the seed. We germinated couple of seeds from the fruit of local bio shop, but we didn’t have enough indoor space to provide them good winter conditions, so the young seedlings didn’t make it through the winter. If you can keep them frost free, it produces fruits very quickly, between 6-12 months.
Carob
Carob tree is quite popular along the Mediterranean countries, although in the first couple of years it can’t stand too cold temperatures. We germinated the seeds from the tree found in Guarda region. Once established they seem to be happy and by 3 years old now they had reached a size 1,5 meters.
Pepino melon or pear melon (Solanum mericatum)
This is our recent discovery, actually a friend offered it to us in one of the local food/plant swap a year ago. It is fairly similar to another subtropical plant called Tamarillo or Tree Tomato. I properly learned the difference from this very informative page and definitely recommend it if you are curious about these interesting solanum variations. Our pepino melon is still growing in the big pot and it fruited in the wintertime in the protected greenhouse spot. We pre-harvested couple of fruits and the just ripened slowly on our kitchen window. The taste is very much like the name describes 😉
Lemon grass and cardamom
Those two wonderful smelling plants have a really similar requirements for growth. Both could stay outdoors in Portuguese climate, but only once well established with good root system. Everybody know cardamom as a seed capsules, but that’s not all that this plant has to offer. Their leaves can be used as much as seeds and its smell is unforgettable.
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Please, share your experience in comments below or drop us a message if you seek for any more info.
Hey lovelies, I would love to come see your tropical fruits, i am planning similar but different fruits, would be amazing if we could share some cuttings/ seeds ect?
Hi! That’s great, we also offer farm tours. You can check it out and let us know when it’s good for you. As for the cuttings, spring is better moment for that. Right now Portugal experiences extreme heat waves and everything rather struggles to survive, so it will not take the transplant.
Good morning Isaac, where can I buy a cardimum and a tea plant? I live near Monsanto. We have avocado, litchi, and mango growing. Have a great weekend
Hi, wow that looks amazing. I have been developing our garden, I have the usual, Fig, Orange, Seville Orange, Lime, Lemon and Kumquat trees. Have also been growing Padron Pimenta (not managed to pick them green yet, but when they go red and get hot they make a fantastic Sweet Thai Chilly), tomatoes and various herbs Basil, Rosemary. Thyme, Mint, Peppermint (I love this for my tea) and of course Chillies.
I also have a Kaffir Lime Leave bush that is really doing well down here in the Algarve, even had one fruit from it this year.
I have been looking to add a Curry Tree/Brush (for curry leaves) and Black Cardamom (if it can survive here) but have been struggling to find somewhere local to buy them. I found a place in France recently, so might see if I can get some shipped down here, such a shame I can’t seem to buy them locally though.
Hi! Thanks for sharing! If you are from Algarve, I recommend you to look up https://www.orchardofflavours.com/ or their designer Jackson. They might not sell you the plants directly, but they know good sources for sure. Good luck!
Hi Lindsay,
It’s Jackson here!
Depending where you are in the Algarve, I could easily supply you with some curry bush! Cardamom is also great given the right conditions.
Happy growing,
Jackson.
Hi Jackson and thank you Admin.
Just back from holidays (can’t believe how cold it is here brrr :-). Jackson can you pop over your email or email me your number, would be great to chat as I am also interested in Black Cardamon and think I have a good shady place for it, that does not get a huge amount of sun, even in the summer.
Alô Lindsay, Eu estou procurando um lugar para morar, com temperaturas 2o centrigues
Para cima, a onde a terra e excelente para plantar, com fontes nascente, uma área bem rural,
Uns 8-10 kms da cidade mais próxima. Uma quinta pequena com 3 mill metros quadrados.
Agradeço se puder me dar retorno. Já vivo-a 3 anos nas missions da serra. Vila Verde.
Sincerely Casey
Olá. This is super interesting. Thanks for sharing! I’m in the Porto area and I was wondering how tropical plants would do because it’s quite humid. This motivates me to try out some.