Animal Crossing: New Horizons brings new and returning flowers to the game. This guide explains how to acquire each type of flower through purchasing seeds, crossbreeding, and pollination.
Types of flowers
Every player’s island has a native flower. These are always available to buy from Nook’s Cranny.
The other way to purchase flowers in ACNH is through Leif, an animal that visits your island once per week. He sells seeds from various species.
The best way to acquire more species quickly is to travel to friends’ islands or be lucky enough to encounter flowers at a Nook Miles island.
There are a total of eight types of flowers you can purchase in the game, each with native colors, including:
- Cosmos
- Hyacinths
- Lillies
- Mums
- Pansies
- Roses
- Tulips
- Windflowers
Similar to previous games in the Animal Crossing series, you create unique hybrid flowers through crossbreeding, as they cannot be purchased.
How to tend to your flowers
Flowers need water from rain or your Watering Can to grow and create hybrids. When watered, your flowers will sparkle.
You can pick from your flowers without uprooting the plant. Simply stand near a flower, press Y, and pick the flower, leaving the stems to grow. They are useful in many DIY recipes.
How to crossbreed flowers
In order to unlock every possible color variation of the different flowers in the game, you will need to crossbreed.
Plant some flowers you want to crossbreed close to each other, either directly horizontal, directly vertical, or from corner to corner. Leave a single tile gap between the two. Ensure they are separated from other flowers, as they may crossbreed with the wrong one.
Use your Watering Can to water the flowers to allow them to grow and begin pollinating. By mixing together the right pair of colors, you can grow hybrids. Follow the table below to get every single hybrid.
| Base Flower Species | Parent Colors | Crossbreed Result |
| Cosmos | Red + Red | Black |
| Cosmos | Red + White | Pink |
| Cosmos | Red + Yellow | Orange |
| Lillies | Red + Red | Black |
| Lillies | Red + Yellow | Orange |
| Lillies | Red + White | Pink |
| Hyacinths | Blue + Blue | Purple |
| Hyacinths | White + White | Blue |
| Hyacinths | Red + White | Pink |
| Hyacinths | Red + Yellow | Orange |
| Mums | Red + White | Pink |
| Mums | White + White | Purple |
| Mums | Purple + Purple | Green |
| Pansies | Red + Red | Purple |
| Pansies | Blue + Blue | Purple |
| Pansies | Yellow + Red | Orange |
| Roses | Red + Red | Black |
| Roses | Red + White | Pink |
| Roses | White + White | Purple |
| Roses | Purple + Orange | Hybrid Red |
| Roses | Red + Yellow | Orange |
| Tulips | Red + Yellow | Orange |
| Tulips | Red + White | Pink |
| Tulips | Red + Red | Black |
| Tulips | Black + Black | Purple |
| Tulips | Orange + Orange | Purple |
| Windflowers | Orange + White | Blue |
| Windflowers | White + White | Blue |
| Windflowers | Orange + Red | Blue |
| Windflowers | Blue + Pink | Pink |
| Windflowers | Blue + Blue | Purple |
How to unlock Leif on Harv’s Island
In the 2.0 update to ACNH, Leif can set up a stall on Harv’s Island. You can open his shop for 100,000 Bells. Wait 24 hours, and he will be there.
Leif will continue to visit your island, but on days he does not appear, you can always visit him on Harv’s Island for free. His inventory usually changes daily.