Summer fruits in Australia
December to February. 23 fruits are harvested somewhere in Australia across those three months, and 14 reach their peak.
Summer is stone fruit, cherries and mangoes, and each has its own few weeks. Cherries run from late November into January and finish in Tasmania. Apricots come first of the stone fruit, and peaches, nectarines and plums carry on into March.
Queensland mangoes and lychees peak around Christmas and New Year. Watermelon and rockmelon come in from Queensland and New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania are picking blackberries and raspberries, and the southern strawberry season is in full swing.
Buy the short ones first
A stone fruit stall is in season for months, but each variety is only at its best for a few weeks. When a grower says the apricots are nearly done, that is the week to buy them.
Summer fruits list
★ Plum- Victoria: January to March
- Western Australia: January to February
- Queensland: December to February
Victoria grows about two thirds of the country's plums, in a summer season that runs later than apricots.
★ Apricot- Victoria: November to March
- South Australia: November to January
- New South Wales: December to February
The first stone fruit of summer and the shortest season of the four. Victoria's Goulburn Valley and South Australia's Riverland grow most of them.
★ Cherry- Tasmania: January to February
- Victoria: November to February
- New South Wales: November to January
A short season. Six to eight weeks in any one district, which is why cherries are the classic thing to buy at a market rather than plan around. Tasmania finishes last.
★ Peach- Victoria: November to March
- South Australia: November to February
- Western Australia: November to February
Victoria grows most Australian peaches, from late spring through summer. White and yellow flesh varieties overlap across the season.
★ Nectarine- Victoria: November to March
- South Australia: November to February
- New South Wales: November to March
Victoria grows about four in five Australian nectarines, with the season running from late spring through summer.
★ Watermelon- Queensland: November to May
- New South Wales: January to March
- South Australia: January to March
Northern melons are a dry season crop, so Kununurra and the Northern Territory pick through the middle of the year while the southern states pick in summer.
★ Table grape- Victoria: January to April
- New South Wales: January to April
- Queensland: January to April
Victoria's Sunraysia district grows most of the country's table grapes, from summer into autumn.
★ Blueberry- New South Wales: June to February
- Victoria: December to April
- Tasmania: December to April
The mid north coast of New South Wales grows most of the country's blueberries and starts picking in winter, well before Victoria and Tasmania pick in summer.
★ Strawberry- Victoria: October to April
- Tasmania: November to February
- South Australia: October to April
The one that surprises people: Queensland grows strawberries through winter, so the southern summer berry and the Queensland winter berry are two different seasons rather than one long one.
★ Fig- South Australia: January to April
- Western Australia: January to April
Figs do not travel or keep, which is why they are reliably better at a market than in a supermarket and why the season feels shorter than it is.
★ Mango- Queensland: October to March
- Western Australia: September to February
Australia's mango season runs north to south. Darwin picks from late winter, Queensland from October, and Carnarvon in Western Australia carries it into summer. No mango is grown commercially in Victoria or Tasmania, so a producer only market there will not have any.
★ Rockmelon- New South Wales: January to April
Queensland supplies rockmelon in spring and New South Wales in summer. Wet weather in growing districts has caused Christmas shortages in recent years.
★ Dragon fruit- Northern Territory: September to April
- Queensland: January to June
Up to 80% of dragon fruit sold in Australia is imported. The local season starts with white flesh fruit from the Northern Territory in spring and moves to red flesh fruit from Queensland in autumn.
★ Passionfruit- Queensland: December to August
Queensland and northern New South Wales grow most Australian passionfruit, from summer into autumn.
Blackberry- Tasmania: December to February
- Victoria: December to January
A summer berry grown mainly in Tasmania and Victoria. Soft fruit that does not travel well, so a market is the best place to buy it.
Lychee- Queensland: December to February
Queensland grows almost every Australian lychee, in a short season around Christmas.
Raspberry- Tasmania: December to April
- Victoria: October to February
Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales pick raspberries in summer, and Queensland grows a winter crop.
Honeydew melon- New South Wales: January to April
Queensland melons come in spring, Western Australian and Northern Territory crops through the dry season, and New South Wales in summer.
Lime- Queensland: January to April
Queensland grows most Australian limes, and the crop is heaviest in summer and early autumn.
Banana- Queensland: All year
- Western Australia: All year
Queensland grows over nine in ten Australian bananas and picks them all year. Lady fingers are the smaller, sweeter variety worth looking for from autumn to spring.
Avocado- Western Australia: August to January
Queensland picks through autumn and winter and Western Australia takes over in spring, which is why avocado never quite feels seasonal even though each region's crop is.
Orange- New South Wales: June to February
Navels are the winter orange and Valencias the summer one. The New South Wales Riverina grows the most of both.
Papaya- Queensland: All year
Papaya and pawpaw are grown almost entirely in far north Queensland and picked all year, with the sweetest fruit in spring and early summer.
★ At its peak in at least one state this season.
Month by month
December
January
What each state picks in summer
A farmers market only sells what is grown within a drive of it, so the summer list in Hobart and the one in Brisbane have less in common than you would expect.
- Victoria (11): plum, apricot, cherry, peach, nectarine, watermelon, table grape, blueberry and more
- New South Wales (10): apricot, cherry, peach, nectarine, watermelon, table grape, blueberry, rockmelon and more
- Queensland (12): plum, apricot, peach, watermelon, table grape, mango, dragon fruit, passionfruit and more
- Western Australia (10): plum, apricot, cherry, peach, nectarine, table grape, fig, mango and more
- South Australia (7): apricot, cherry, peach, nectarine, watermelon, strawberry, fig
- Tasmania (5): cherry, blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry
- Northern Territory (1): dragon fruit
Where to buy summer fruits
A farmers market is where summer produce turns up within a day or two of picking. Every market listing carries its real trading days.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What fruits are in season in summer in Australia?
- Summer runs from December to February, and 23 fruits are harvested somewhere in Australia over those months, including plums, apricots, cherries, peaches, nectarines, watermelons, grapes and blueberries. What you will find at a market depends on your state.
- Which fruits are at their best in summer?
- Plums, apricots, cherries, peaches, nectarines and watermelons reach their peak in at least one growing state during summer.
- Do summer fruits differ between states?
- Yes, often by months. In summer, dragon fruit, passionfruit, lychees, limes and papayas come mostly from Queensland and the Northern Territory. Cherries, nectarines, blueberries, strawberries and figs come mostly from further south. Your state's in season page lists what is being picked closest to you.
- When does summer start in Australia?
- Australia uses meteorological seasons, so summer starts on 1 December and runs to the end of February.
Harvest months from our own research across Australian growing regions and national production figures.