Season And Varieties
Oranges
Western Australian oranges are picked all year round although the peak of the citrus season is through the colder months of winter.
Navel oranges are available through the winter. They are a sweet, juicy, seedless orange making them ideal for eating. Harvesting in WA starts in May and extends through November. A range of varieties are grown to ensure an extended season.
Rosy Red navels and Cara Cara navels have become very popular in recent years due to their delicate pink flesh and sweet low acid flavour. They have a strong orange skin and are not to be confused with Blood Oranges.
Valencia oranges are the variety to enjoy through Summer months. This deliciously juicy, seedless orange is sometimes overlooked as the skin is a lighter colour due to the warmer weather. The sweet high juice content of the Valencia makes it the premium choice for eating and juicing.
Midknight Valencias or the Summer Orange ends our citrus season with a zesty bang. With most other citrus varieties available only in the winter months, this unique Valencia variety gives consumers the opportunity to enjoy fresh, local citrus right up until Christmas. The Midknight Summer Orange is virtually seedless and unmistakably juicy.
Mandarins
Mandarins are picked in WA from April to November
A range of varieties are grown to ensure an extended supply of fresh mandarins throughout winter.
Imperial are the most widely planted and most popular mandarin variety grown in WA, possibly as it’s the first variety to launch the season in May.
Other varieties follow as the winter unfolds, including the popular Hickson, Daisy, Afourer, Mystique and Murcott varieties.
Available May to September
Imperial
A small to medium sized fruit, smooth and thin-skinned. Easy to peel with stunning flavour.
Available May to August
Ellendale
A large fruit with deep orange skin. Easy to peel and very flavoursome. A cross between a sweet orange and a mandarin.
Available July to September
Honey Murcott
A deliciously sweet, late maturing fruit with a distinctive honey taste. Similar in size to an Imperial, but seeded and not quite as easy to peel.
Available July to November
Afourer
A highly attractive deep orange-red colour and is easy to peel. Very flavoursome with high juicy content. Usually seedless, but depends on growing conditions.
Available July to September
Mystique
Mystique is a mandarin orange cross which is seeded, large and juicy with a tighter skin.
Available September to October
Gold Nugget
A distinctive bumpy rind and great eating qualities – sweet, seedless, easy to peel with large segments. An excellent late season mandarin.
Lemons
Western Australian lemons are harvested all year with supplies being a little scarce in January and February. Eureka and Meyer are the main varieties.
Lemons are picked when greenish-yellow but ripen to full yellow over a few days.
Limes
Limes available October to March
Finger limes grown in Pemberton are picked March to May
Tahitian limes (sometimes called Persian limes): Seedless, thin skinned, with a pale, juicy flesh. Limes are picked and sold while still under ripe, as the flavour is the best when still green. When fully ripe the skin is yellow and they loose their fragrant acidity. Look for fruits that are bright darkish green, glossy skinned and feel firm and heavy for their size.
Grapefruit
The traditional white grapefruit, grown in the cooler south of WA, has been principally replaced by sweeter red flesh fruit.
Warm conditions above the Tropic of Capricorn create the intense red colour flesh and exceptionally sweet flavour of the popular Red Grapefruit. Carnarvon and Kununurra are main growing regions.
Available in early June until August.
Sweet red grapefruit varieties such as Star, Rio Red and Flame are harvested in Kununurra from March to May, Carnarvon from May to August and in south west regions from September to December. Sweet Ruby pink grapefruit are harvested in Carnarvon from May to August. Some sweet white flesh grapefruit (Marsh variety) grown in southern areas, are harvested at the same time as the red varieties.
Grapefruit from March to December.
Citrus Fruits Grown in WA (based on area planted)
Western Australian citrus production is concentrated north and south of Perth and further north around Kununurra and Carnarvon.
The industry includes navels and Valencia oranges, mandarins, lemons, limes, tangellos and native citrus. The breakdown of the main citrus types grown in WA based on area planted can be found at