‘Mangoes are super happy right now’: What a big year for blossoms means for Miami

You step outside and breathe in fresh warm air, reveling in the thought that your family and friends in the north are much unhappier than you are on this Florida winter day.

Then you hack and cough. Your nose starts to run. Water pours from your eyes, which quickly shrink to slits. Your cheeks ache.

No, you don’t have COVID. It’s mango blossom season.

If you’re an allergy sufferer, your sinuses are hating life in Miami right now. But if you’re a mango lover, a bountiful blossom season is a promise of good things to come.

And good things are definitely coming to those who love mangoes.

Your sinuses haven’t been lying to you: this is a banner year for blossoms, says Noris Ledesma, president of the Florida State Horticultural Society. And a robust year for blossoms means a robust year for fruit.

“It’s a celebration, this blooming season,” says Ledesma, who retired last year from her post as curator of tropical fruit at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. “It’s amazing. I don’t recall a blooming extravaganza like this in my 20 years in the U.S. The mangoes are super happy right now. These are perfect conditions.”

What caused this blooming bonanza? South Florida’s streak of cold weather, Ledesma says. Not only that, but it was dry as well as cold; humidity and rain haven’t been a factor.

The past five years have been tough on South Florida’s trees, Ledesma says. Your complaining neighbors and co-workers weren’t wrong about last summer. Most South Florida trees didn’t produce a ton of fruit, thanks to wet weather and humidity.

There are a few things homeowners can do to urge their trees along, she says. First, remove dead branches to give the canopy more ventilation. And don’t overwater your trees — they don’t need it, and soggy roots will actually hurt them.

Then just sit back and wait for all the fruit (unless you’re one of those rare Floridians who would never let a mango touch your lips).

Ledesma, for one, is thrilled.

“We’re expecting the best season ever,” she says. “If we have the same weather for another two weeks, the season is going to be perfect. It’s a blessing.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "‘Mangoes are super happy right now’: What a big year for blossoms means for Miami."