Planting guide

When to plant orange

Classic juicy citrus; navels for eating, Valencias for juice. In Melbourne it goes in Nov–Mar.

Start as: Potted plant
Ready in: 3+ years to the first crop
Spacing: 400 cm
Depth: 0 cm
Sun: Full sun (6+ hours)
Water: Regular
Effort: Some care
Frost-tender: Yes, plant after the last frost

When it goes in

● means orange can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's real monthly temperatures, not a zone map. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●
Brisbane	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Perth	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Gold Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Canberra	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Central Coast	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Hobart	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Townsville	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Cairns	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Toowoomba	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Darwin	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Ballarat	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mandurah	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Launceston	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mackay	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Rockhampton	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Coffs Harbour	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Bunbury	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Bundaberg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Alice Springs	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Mildura	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Wellington	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Christchurch	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
London	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Manchester	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
New York City	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Los Angeles	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Chicago	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Seattle	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Austin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Toronto	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cape Town	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Singapore	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Mumbai	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Paris	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Berlin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

How to plant orange

Plant in full sun, sheltered from wind, in free-draining soil.
Water deeply weekly in summer, mulch clear of the trunk.
Feed with citrus food in spring and autumn.
Pick fruit when sweet; they hold on the tree.

Orange varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Washington NavelClassicsweet · 34–47 wksSeedless, easy-peel winter orange
ValenciaClassicsweet · heavy-cropper · 43–60 wksJuicy late orange, summer harvest
Cara CaraAdventuroussweet · colourful · 34–47 wksPink flesh with low acidity
Arnold's BloodAdventurouscolourful · 34–47 wksDark crimson flesh; berry-like flavour
SevilleAdventuroushot · 34–47 wksBitter orange for marmalade
Lane's LateClassicstorage · sweet · 43–60 wksLate navel that hangs well

Where to buy seedlings

Search on QP Seedlings Search on Amazon

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Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Chive, Nasturtium, Marigold

Orange by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Lemon · Lime · Apple · Fig · Avocado · Banana

Not sure orange is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now →