A Guide to Shrubs in Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Acquisition, Planting, and Varieties
With the April 23 update, Animal Crossing: New Horizons welcomes Leif, the charming gardening sloth. He’ll make regular visits to your island, offering rare flower seeds and the newly introduced shrubs. While shrubs do produce flowers, they function differently from the regular flowers you’re accustomed to. Before diving into the details, here’s everything you need to know about shrubs. Leif’s arrival also marks the beginning of the Nature Day event, but shrubs aren’t limited to this occasion. He’s now part of the rotating lineup of special visitors, so keep an eye out for him. For more gardening insights in New Horizons, check out the hybrid flower crossbreeding guide.
**How Do Shrubs Work?**
In New Horizons, shrubs bloom like flowers and include various types, such as azaleas and hydrangeas, but they don’t operate like the regular flowers. Unlike flowers, shrubs are solid objects, meaning you can’t walk through them. They also have a seasonal aspect, blooming only during specific times of the year; outside of those periods, they remain as plain bushes.
**Planting Shrubs**
Planting shrubs is similar to planting flowers or tree saplings. Just stand where you want to plant, access your inventory, select the shrub, and choose the plant option. There’s no need to water them. The shrubs you purchase from Leif are starters, so they will take a few days to grow. If the shrub is in season, it will bloom once fully grown.
**Can You Breed Shrubs?**
Unlike flowers, which can be crossbred to create new colors, shrubs cannot be crossbred. They function more like trees in that regard.
**Types of Shrubs**
Currently, there are six types of shrubs available in New Horizons, totaling 11 variations when including colors. They are:
– Pink Azalea
– White Azalea
– Blue Hydrangea
– Pink Hydrangea
– Red Hibiscus
– Yellow Hibiscus
– Pink Camellia
– Red Camellia
– Orange Tea-Olive
– Yellow Tea-Olive
– Holly
**Shrub Seasons**
Shrubs bloom seasonally, unlike flowers or trees. This means their flowers will only appear during certain times of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere, azaleas are currently in season, so fully grown azalea shrubs will bloom. We’re still uncovering the blooming seasons for each shrub type, but based on Animal Crossing: New Leaf, we can make some educated guesses. This list will be updated as we confirm the seasonality and specific dates for each shrub. Keep in mind that these seasons will vary by location; for instance, azaleas are a spring shrub in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
– Azalea: Spring
– Hydrangea: Early summer
– Hibiscus: Mid-to-late summer
– Tea-Olive: Autumn
– Holly: Winter
– Camellia: TBD
