How to cross-breed flowers on your Animal Crossing island

As you continue to beautify and customize your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island, you might have an inclination to change up the look of your flora. To do so, you’ll need to do some flower cross-breeding. By taking a few basic steps outlined below, you’ll open up a whole new world for your garden, filled with pink lilies, gold roses, purple pansies, and more.

Flower basics in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

When you begin playing New Horizons, you’ll have at least one native flower located all around the island. Additional flower types can be obtained from Nook’s Cranny, by traveling to a Mystery Island, or by taking variants from your friend’s islands. When you find a new variant, you’ll need to dig them up with the shovel to plant them on your own island. If you’d like to take something from a friend’s island, make sure they’re saved as a “Best Friend.”

You won’t be able to replant picked flowers, but the stems will remain, allowing new petals to grow.

After introducing new flower variants to your island, planting them near other flowers will allow you to cross-breed them.

How cross-breeding works in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

To cross-breed, all you need to do is arrange your flower bed in a checkerboard pattern. In practice, it should be one flower, a gap, one flower, etc. The two nearby flowers of the same breed will cross-pollinate, producing a new color variant. To ensure this happens, make sure to water your flowers every day.

Cross-breeding is essential if you plan on collecting every flower available in New Horizons. Hybrid flowers can only be obtained via cross-breeding, so make sure to get all of them. We’ve compiled the easiest methods for breeding every flower type, so you can finally perfect your garden, right in time for Nature Day.

COSMOS

Yellow + Red = Orange

Red + White = Pink

Orange + Orange = Black

HYACINTHS

Red + White = Pink

White + White = Blue

Red + Yellow = Orange

Orange + Orange = Purple

LILIES

Red + Red = Black

Yellow + Red = Orange

Red + White = Pink

MUMS

White + Red = Pink

White + White = Purple

Red + Yellow = Hybrid Yellow (Visually similar to Yellow but required for growing Hybrid Purple mums)

Hybrid Yellow + Hybrid Yellow = Hybrid Purple (Visually similar to Purple but required for growing Green mums)

Hybrid Purple + Hybrid Purple = Green

PANSIES

White + White = Blue

Yellow + Red = Orange

Red + Blue = Hybrid Red (Visually similar to Red but required for growing Purple pansies)

Hybrid Red + Hybrid Red = Hybrid Purple

ROSES

Red + Red = Black

Red + White = Pink

Yellow + Red = Orange

White + White = Purple

Purple + Orange = Hybrid Red (Visually similar to Red, but required for Blue roses)

Hybrid Red + Hybrid Red = Blue

Black Roses watered with Golden Watering Can = Gold (Golden Watering Can, which is unlocked by reaching a 5-star town rating.)

TULIPS

Red + Red = Black

Red + Yellow = Orange

Red + White = Pink

Orange + Orange = Purple

WINDFLOWERS

Orange + Red = Pink

White + White = Blue

Pink + Blue = Hybrid Red (Looks the same as Red but required for growing Purple windflowers)

Hybrid Red + Hybrid Red = Purple

Any flowers that aren’t listed as the sum of two flowers can be purchased from Nook’s Cranny or found on a Mystery Tour using your Nook Miles.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Nature Day event begins on April 23.