Valencia Orange: Get Tons of Delicious Juice From Home

If you've ever poured a glass of orange juice, you've tasted a Valencia. This is the late-season standard that the juice industry was built around — and growing your own means picking it sun-warmed off the branch instead of off a shelf. Valencias ripen long after most oranges are gone, holding their crop right through spring and into summer, so a single tree stretches your citrus season for months. The fruit is deeply sweet with a bright, balanced tang, almost seedless, and so packed with juice that the thin, leathery rind practically struggles to contain it.

Why You'll Love the Valencia Orange

• The juice orange, by definition. No other variety delivers Valencia's volume of sweet, richly colored juice — this is the fruit the orange-juice standard is measured against.
• A harvest that arrives late and lingers. Fruit ripens spring into summer and holds firmly on the tree for months, so you pick at your pace instead of racing the calendar.
• Few seeds, easy eating. Valencias run nearly seedless, making them as pleasant to peel and segment as they are to squeeze.
• Two crops on one tree. A mature Valencia often carries ripening fruit and next season's blossoms at the same time — a striking, productive sight.
• Fragrant, evergreen, and ornamental. Glossy foliage and clouds of white, honey-scented blossoms make it a centerpiece long before the first orange colors up.

Growing Zones & Care

Hardy outdoors in USDA zones 9 through 11. In colder climates, grow it in a container and bring it indoors for winter. Plant in full sun in light, well-draining soil and water moderately.

One quirk gives the Valencia character: as warm weather returns, ripe fruit can flush faintly green again at the stem — a harmless cosmetic effect called regreening that has nothing to do with sweetness inside. Grown in the ground in warm regions or in a container that summers outdoors and overwinters in, the Valencia rewards a sunny spot with years of the freshest juice you'll ever pour.

Please note: This tree ships in a citra pot—a tall, narrow container that promotes vertical root growth and prevents root circling.