Mango madness: Family has grown fruit on Merritt Island for more than 80 years

Suzy Fleming Leonard, Florida Today
·4 min read

Drive along Merritt Island's South Tropical Trail these days, and you'll see the signs: Mangoes.

They point to everything from produce stands with dozens of mango varieties to unstaffed tables with a pile of fruit and an honor box. You might even come upon a couple of industrious kids who've forgone lemonade to sell mango smoothies.

Mangoes are ripening across Brevard right now, on backyard trees and in multi-acre groves. But for Merritt Island, mango season, which stretches from June to September, is especially sweet.

For Ivanhoe Henry of Palm Bay, mangoes offer a delightful taste of home. He visits the various Merritt Island orchards every time he gets the chance.

Suzy Fleming Leonard: When life gives you mangoes, make mango ice cream; here's my recipe

"Mangoes, in whole, to me, are special," the native of Jamaica said as he waited recently for Angie Marshall of Ensey Tropical Fruit Co. to pick a few not-quite-ripe mangoes for him to ship.

"I grew up on mangoes," he said. "It's just an island thing."

Marshall also grew up on mangoes, and they're an island thing for her, too. Her grandfather, Rutledge Ensey, planted his first mango trees on Merritt Island in the early 1940s.

"It was a full-blown grove by 1952," Marshall said.

How Ensey Tropical Fruit began

Angie Marshall picks out some mangoes for a customer at Ensey Tropical Fruit Co. on South Tropical Trailm two miles south of Pineda Causeway. The grove was planted over 80 years ago by Edward "Rutledge" Ensey. He moved from Eden, Florida, and replaced a citrus plantation with a new mango grove.
Angie Marshall picks out some mangoes for a customer at Ensey Tropical Fruit Co. on South Tropical Trailm two miles south of Pineda Causeway. The grove was planted over 80 years ago by Edward "Rutledge" Ensey. He moved from Eden, Florida, and replaced a citrus plantation with a new mango grove.

Marshall's maternal great-grandfather, Capt. John Miller, was a seaman who brought mango rootstock home from Japan.

Rutledge Ensey had a farm on Hutchinson Island in the early 1900s, Marshall said. After raising his family there, he sold the farm and moved north to Brevard County.

"He pulled a citrus grove out of here and took a chance on mangoes," she said.

Naysayers warned that Merritt Island was too far north. Tropical mangoes would never make it through the subtropical winters of Central Florida.

But Ensey knew what he was doing. Merritt Island, especially the sliver south of Pineda Causeway, has its own microclimate, said Ian Van Dam, a family friend who helps Marshall maintain the grove. Because it's between the Indian and Banana rivers, it stays a few degrees warmer than the rest of Brevard.

"We call Titusville the Tundra," Marshall said with a chuckle.

Some of Ensey's original trees are still on the eight-acre property, their trunks thick with age, their branches heavy with fruit. The trees are topped every few years so they don't grow so tall the fruit can't be reached.

A very mature sunset mango tree planted more than 80 years ago by Rutledge Ensey still produces fruit at Ensey Tropical Fruit Co. on South Tropical Trail on Merritt Island.
A very mature sunset mango tree planted more than 80 years ago by Rutledge Ensey still produces fruit at Ensey Tropical Fruit Co. on South Tropical Trail on Merritt Island.

The property, which now is owned by Marshall's son, John Travis, has more than 300 trees. Interspersed with the mangoes are avocado, lychee and longan trees.

Marshall grew up helping tend those trees. She remembers staying up all night with her grandparents during a cold snap, trying to keep them warm.

Her uncle, Eddie Ensey, took over from her grandfather.

"We had a 10-day hard freeze in 1989," she said. "Uncle Eddie had to replant."

The ups and downs of farming

Last year's crop was dismal. Marshall blames sparse rain in 2021 and harsh winds early in the year that blew buds right off the branches.

"We put a sign up: 'Mother Nature missed us. See you in 2023,'" she said. The farm lost about $40,000.

This year has made up for it.

"This year is one of those years when everybody's trees are producing," Van Dam said.

There's so much fruit on the trees, the ground is littered with seemingly perfect mangoes after heavy summer rains.

"We don't sell fruit off the ground at the stand," Van Dam said. The fruit may look perfect on the outside, but impact from falling jars the pit against the delicate fruit, bruising it from the inside.

Fruit that falls is composted and used as fertilizer for next season.

The future of Ensey

Royal Purple mangoes are pictured at Ensey Tropical Fruit Co. on South Tropical Trail, two miles south of Pineda Causeway. The grove was planted over 80 years ago by Edward "Rutledge" Ensey. He moved from Eden, Florida, and replaced a citrus plantation with a new mango grove.
Royal Purple mangoes are pictured at Ensey Tropical Fruit Co. on South Tropical Trail, two miles south of Pineda Causeway. The grove was planted over 80 years ago by Edward "Rutledge" Ensey. He moved from Eden, Florida, and replaced a citrus plantation with a new mango grove.

And if Marshall has any say, there will be a next season, and many seasons after that.

Eight acres on South Tropical Trail, with rivers to the east and the west, are prime real estate, but Marshall feels confident the farm will be there for decades to come.

John Travis lives in Michigan now, but he comes back to Florida regularly to help with the trees.

"I'm sure he will retire here," Marshall said.

"We are just blessed that my grandfather had the good sense to do something like this. It's not a profit-making business, it's a family hobby. We just love it, and we're proud of it."

Suzy Fleming Leonard is a features journalist with more than three decades of experience. Reach her at sleonard@floridatoday.com. Find her on Facebook: @SuzyFlemingLeonard or on Instagram: @SuzyLeonard. 

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Ensey Tropical Fruit on Merritt Island still growing after 80 years