Among other plants like trees and flowers, shrubs are a great way to decorate the island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Added in the 1.2 update from April 2020, shrubs come in a variety of types and colors, adding an extra pop of floral aesthetics to brighten up exterior designs and raise the island’s rating. However, each bush is only in season for a short period of time, which means that players will only be able to enjoy their beautiful blooms during certain times of the year. To keep their gardens blooming, players can plant new bushes with each season, or they can simply wait for their bushes to bloom each season as the year goes on.

Shrubs can be purchased from Leif as "starts", which take 3 days to grow after being planted. Leif is one of several traveling NPCs that shows up on the island at random to sell his wares, and Animal Crossing's gardening specialist brings a stock of bush starts, flowers, and produce to players’ islands when he arrives. He’ll bring two different types of shrubs with him each time he visits, and players will be able to choose between any available color combinations as well. Shrubs cost 280 Bells to buy and sell for 70 Bells at Nook’s Cranny, and players are able to purchase them either as singles or in a bulk of 5. Only one type of shrub will be in season at a time, and Leif will always sell that type when he comes to town along with another type that’s out of season.

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As of the Animal Crossing 2.0 update back in November, Leif can also be found on Harv’s Island as part of the market collective Harv and Harriet have set up. After donating 100,00 Bells to one of the Lloids to open the shop, Leif will be open for business from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. unless Leif is already visiting the player’s island, in which case the stand will be closed. While the addition of Harv’s Island shops gives players access to the vendor NPCs without waiting for them to appear on the player’s island at random, Leif’s shop items will only rotate once per week, so players will have to be patient if the shrub or start they’re looking for is unavailable.

When Every Bush Blooms In Animal Crossing

In addition to Leif’s shop, Animal Crossing players can also find bushes on Mystery Island Tours after they were added in the 2.0 update. Not only are 2.0’s new Plumeria bushes featured on these islands, but all of the bushes can be found blossoming on islands with their respective seasons, giving players the chance to dig them up and bring them home for their own island landscaping. While these shrubs are technically free to grab, Mystery Island Tours cost 1,000 Nook Miles Tickets, and Kapp’n will only take players on one tour per day. Players looking for an extra Plumeria shrub can also get one for free from the school on Animal Crossing's Happy Home Archipelago if they have the Happy Home Paradise DLC.

After the Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 update, there are a total of 7 types of bushes in the game, most of which come in 2 different color variations, leaving players with a total of 13 unique bushes in total. However, bushes only bloom while they are in season, though their leaves change color as the seasons change, much like Animal Crossing’s trees. Otherwise, bushes are distinguishable from each other based on the color and shape of their leaves, which vary slightly with each breed and allow players to tell them apart even when they aren’t in bloom. In addition, while each bush blooms at a different time of the year, the new Plumeria bush overlaps with the Hydrangea and Hibiscus bushes and blooms the entire way through the summer season.

  • Camellia: red and pink, blooms from January 1 to March 31 in the Northern Hemisphere and June 16 to September 30 in the Southern Hemisphere.
  • Azalea: white and pink, blooms from April 11 to May 31 in the Northern Hemisphere and October 11 to November 30 in the Southern Hemisphere.
  • Hydrangea: blue and pink, blooms from June 1 to July 20 in the Northern Hemisphere and December 1 to January 20 in the Southern Hemisphere.
  • Plumeria: added in the 2.0 update, has pink and white variants and blooms from June 1 to September 20 in the Northern Hemisphere and December 1 to March 20 in the Southern Hemisphere
  • Hibiscus: red and yellow, blooms from July 21 to September 20 in the Northern Hemisphere and January 21 to March 20 in the Southern Hemisphere.
  • Tea Olive: orange and yellow, blooms from September 21 to October 31 in the Northern Hemisphere and March 21 to April 30 in the Southern Hemisphere.
  • Holly: no variants, blooms from November 1 to December 31 in the Northern Hemisphere and May 1 to June 15 in the Southern Hemisphere.

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Animal Crossing Shrub Guide - Tips, Tricks, and Where To Plant

Animal Crossing 2.0 Leif Shop

Shrubs in Animal Crossing: New Horizons are a very versatile plant and can be planted successfully in locations that trees won’t grow, allowing players to add more depth and decoration to their outdoor designs. Shrubs can be planted in spaces adjacent to buildings, fences, inclines, bridges, and trees, though they won’t grow when planted in sand as they do require soil. Not only do bushes add more texture to high-foliage areas like forests and parks, but they also make nice accent linings for buildings and paths with their round shape and lovely colors. However, unlike flowers, there are no hybrid bushes in Animal Crossing, and their flowers can’t be picked when they are in bloom.

Fortunately, shrubs are very low-maintenance and don’t need to be watered at all when they’re growing or fully grown, and watering doesn’t have any effect on bushes like it does on flowers or crops. Players can dig up and replant shrubs with a shovel as well, and even fully grown bushes do not require players to eat food or fruit to move them due to their lightweight nature. In addition, like Animal Crossing’s rocks, snails will spawn on bushes when it’s raining, giving players more chances to catch these cute creatures with a bug net. With the variations available, players have plenty of flexibility when it comes to planting the perfect garden for their Animal Crossing island paradise.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available on Nintendo Switch.