Florida Mango Grovelet
· Est. in the sandy soil of South Florida · Lake Clarke Shores, FL ·

A small grove · Fifty years in the making

Forty varieties of mango on two and a half acres of old Florida.

Florida Mango Grovelet is a working family grove in Palm Beach County. We bought this place over fifty years ago with a hundred trees and just two varieties — Haden and Zill. Over the decades, a sharp blade, a willingness to experiment, and a lot of top-grafting turned it into something else entirely: forty-plus mango varieties, a handful of avocados, a few carambolas, and a season that stretches from March clear into late summer.

Shop the Grove See the Varieties
  • 40+Mango varieties
  • 100+Trees top-grafted
  • 50Years at it
A canopy of ripening green-gold mangoes hanging from leafy branches at a Florida mango grove in Lake Clarke Shores
Mango season, in full.
01 The Grove

We bought the grove
fifty years ago
with a hundred trees.

Back then it was two varieties, Haden and Zill, planted thick across two and a half sandy acres in Lake Clarke Shores. Nice trees. Steady producers. But after a couple of seasons it was clear: there's a whole world of mangoes out there, and if we were going to do this, we might as well do it right.

So we learned to top-graft. One tree at a time, one variety at a time — Haden gave way to Carrie, Zill gave way to Pickering and Alphonso and Coconut Cream. Today there are over forty varieties on the same piece of ground, most of them grafted onto trunks that have been in the sun longer than a lot of the people eating the fruit. A handful of avocados and carambolas round it out, because if you're going to tend a grove you might as well tend it well.

Red-blushed mangoes piled in sunlight
A good haul.
A single green mango hanging from a branch amid leaves
Green on the branch.
Sun-ripened mangoes stacked in a crate
Harvest day.
Mangoes on a tree branch, dark moody lighting
Evening in the grove.
02 The Catalog

What's growing out there

Over forty varieties, each with its own season, its own flavor, its own stubborn personality. A handful of the favorites are below — from the earliest (a Rosigold popping in March) to the latest (a Keitt hanging on into August). The full roll call is a living thing. Trees come and go, grafts take or they don't, and every year the list looks a little different.

Rosigold

Early Season · March

The first mango of the year. Sweet, soft, a small fruit that lets us know the season is starting while everyone else is still dormant.

Season · Mar to Apr

Pickering

Florida · Dwarf

Tropical flavor, zero turpentine. Coconut-lemon finish. A sunny little powerhouse of a tree.

Season · Jun to Jul

Carrie

Florida · Heirloom

Soft, fiberless, almost custardy. Tastes like someone bottled summer. A Florida classic.

Season · Jun to Jul

Lemon Zest

Zill Selection

Bright, citric, almost sour-sweet. Tastes exactly like the name. People fight over these.

Season · Jun to Jul

Coconut Cream

Zill Selection

Silky, tropical, with a whisper of coconut and vanilla. The kind you eat standing over the sink.

Season · Jul

Alphonso

India · Legendary

The famous one. Floral, saffron-gold, thin skin, unforgettable. Worth grafting a tree just for these. We grow Super Alphonso too.

Season · Jun

Nam Doc Mai

Thailand

Slender, pale-gold, sweet with a soft tang. Eat green in salad, eat ripe in wonder.

Season · Jun to Jul

Choc Anon

Thailand · The Surprise

Sweet, mild, and famously willing to fruit twice. Usually summer, but every so often we get a Christmas miracle in December.

Season · Jun to Jul (and sometimes Dec)

Keitt

Florida · Late

The late bloomer. Big, green-skinned, firm, and sweet well into August when everyone else is done.

Season · Aug

… and another thirty-plus varieties still figuring out what kind of tree they want to be.

See what's on offer
03 The Craft

Top-grafting
is how a grove
gets interesting.

One mature trunk. A fresh scion from a better variety. A sharp blade, a strip of tape, and the patience to wait a few seasons. That's how a hundred Hadens and Zills slowly became forty-plus of almost anything you can name.

  1. i

    Cut it back, chest high

    When we trim a tree for top-grafting, we cut it back to about chest high. That one simple thing makes the whole job easier. It's not wise to climb a ladder to do this work.

  2. ii

    Pick the scion

    Fresh budwood from a variety worth having. Pencil-thick, handled like it matters. We've got forty varieties to choose from; picking is half the fun.

  3. iii

    Marry the two

    Line up the cambium, wrap it tight, seal it up. Mango trees are very forgiving. You can trim them hard and they bounce right back. That's what makes this work.

  4. iv

    Wait three years

    No fruit the first year. A few the second. A normal crop by the third. The process takes a couple of months to execute and a few seasons to pay off. It's worth it.

04 The Storefront

What we sell.

Two offerings, both direct from the grove. No shipping, no storefront, no online cart. You call, you come, you leave with something good.

In Season

Fresh mangoes

Sold to the public in season · May – August

When the trees are loaded, we sell fruit straight off the branch. Forty-plus varieties means a rotating flavor lineup — Pickering one week, Coconut Cream the next, a late Keitt still coming in August. Call ahead to see what's ripe and how much is available.

Season May through August (with a March Rosigold if you're early)
How it works Call first. Pick up at the grove. Cash only.
What's on offer Whatever's ripe that week — single-variety or mixed
Year-round

Pre-grafted trees

From our inventory · What's grown is what's sold

Every tree we sell is grafted onto healthy rootstock with a named variety up top — no guesswork, no waiting three years to find out what fruit you're getting. Inventory rotates with the seasons. Ask early if you have your heart set on something specific.

Available Year-round, inventory permitting
How it works Call first. Pick up at the grove. Cash only, no shipping.
What's on offer Whatever varieties Charlie has grown on and ready

Fruit or tree — same number

Call Charlie to see what's on offer.

He'll tell you what's ripe, what's grafted, what size, and what it costs. It's that simple.

Call 561 · 373 · 2775

A quick note: Charlie does not take scion trades, custom grafting requests, or wood swaps, and the grove is not a u-pick. The grove is a private collection. What's offered for sale is what's grown.

An Honest Note

Not everything goes right.

A few years back, black spot bacteria got into the grove. Watching a heavy producer like Kent or Tommy Atkins set a beautiful crop and then drop the fruit to the ground — that's the hard part of growing anything. Some varieties handle it fine. Others don't. We keep planting, keep grafting, keep learning. That's the whole job.

05 Come See It

Visit the grove

We're a working backyard operation, not a u-pick. But if you're mango-curious, shopping for a grafted tree, or just want to stand under a tree in June and smell what forty varieties smells like — give Charlie a call, we'll figure something out.

Where

1711 Carandis Rd
Lake Clarke Shores, FL 33406

By appointment only — please call first.

561·373·2775

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Mango season

The main season runs May through August, with a Rosigold popping as early as March and a Keitt hanging on into late August. Every so often a Choc Anon surprises us with a Christmas crop. Here's the rough rhythm of the grove:

Mar
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Aerial view of the grove at 1711 Carandis Rd, Lake Clarke Shores, showing a dense block of dark-green mango and avocado canopy surrounded by houses and backyard pools
The Grovelet 1711 Carandis Rd · ~2.5 acres
A bird's-eye view of the grove — that dense block of dark-green canopy in the middle is forty years of top-grafting, surrounded by the neighborhood.
06 Say Hello

Got a mango question?
A tree you want to take home?
A grove you want to see?

Drop a line or pick up the phone. The grove is small, the line is friendly, and almost nothing makes Charlie happier than talking to another mango person.

Call Charlie 561 · 373 · 2775 Often the quickest way Or text Charlie 561 · 373 · 2775 Good for quick questions about what's ripe
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