Mango Season

Mango trees grow all over the Virgin Islands, planted deliberately and self-seeded in every gut and yard, and by June the roadsides are lined with buckets of them. The varieties have names and followings: Julie, small and fibreless and the one most people name first; Number Eleven; Amelie; Beverly; Ceylon; and the ordinary turpentine mangoes nobody plants but everyone eats. Each fruits at a slightly different point in the season, which stretches from around May into August. Mango Melee, held at the St George Village Botanical Garden each July, is a full day of tastings, competitions, cooking and trees for sale.

What you actually see

• The named varieties - Julie, Number Eleven, Amelie and the rest.
• Mango Melee - the July festival at the botanical garden on St Croix.
• Roadside buckets - the way most are actually bought.
• Mango in cooking - chutneys, sauces and stewed with fish.

When to go

May to August is the season, with the peak generally in June and July. Mango Melee is held in July. Outside the season, mangoes on sale are imported and not the point.

Honest expectations

The season is short and outside it there is nothing to see. Roadside sellers price for cash and small notes help. Mango skin causes a rash in people sensitive to poison ivy, since the plants are related. Taking fruit from trees on private land is theft, however casually the trees seem to be growing.

Nearby

The St George garden hosts Mango Melee; roadside stands are on every island.