With the April 23 update, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has introduced Leif, the friendly gardening sloth. Leif will periodically visit your island to sell rare flower seeds as well as the newly added shrubs. While shrubs do bloom flowers, they work differently to the regular flowers you have on your island. We outline everything you need to know about shrubs below.

　　While Leif's arrival also signals the start of the new Nature Day event, shrubs aren't exclusive to Nature Day. Leif has been added to the rotating cast of special visitors that can come to your island on any given day, so keep an eye out for him. For more gardening tips in New Horizons, be sure to read our full hybrid flower crossbreeding guide.

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How Do Shrubs Work?

While shrubs in New Horizons bloom like flowers and include various types of flowers, like azaleas and hydrangeas, they don't work quite like the regular flowers you're used to. Unlike regular flower plants, shrubs are solid, meaning you can't walk through them. They're also seasonal, meaning they'll only bloom during specific parts of the year; for the rest of the year, they'll just be a plain bush.

　　

Planting Shrubs

Planting shrubs works the same way as planting flowers or tree saplings: Simply stand on the spot you want to plant the shrub, go into your inventory, select the shrub you want to plant, and select the plant option. You don't need to water them. The shrubs you buy from Leif are starters, so like other plants, they will take a few days to grow. If the shrub is in season, it will bloom once it's fully grown.

　　

Can You Breed Shrubs?

Unlike flowers--which you can crossbreed in order to grow new colors--shrubs cannot crossbreed. In that sense, they work more like trees than flowers.

　　

Types Of Shrubs

There are currently six kinds of shrubs you can plant in New Horizons, and including color variations, there are 11 in total. They are:

　　Pink AzaleaWhite AzaleaBlue HydrangeaPink HydrangeaRed HibiscusYellow HibiscusPink CamelliaRed CamelliaOrange Tea-OliveYellow Tea-OliveHolly

Shrub Seasons

Shrubs, unlike flowers or trees, bloom seasonally. That means that the shrub's 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 discovering each shrub type's blooming season, but based on Animal Crossing: New Leaf's shrubs, we can infer the relative seasons. We'll continue to update this list as we confirm each shrub's seasonality and exact dates where applicable. Note that these seasons will be relative to your location, so azaleas are a spring shrub in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

　　Azalea: SpringHydrangea: Early summerHibiscus: Mid-to-late summerTea-Olive: AutumnHolly: WinterCamellia: TBDAnimal Crossing: New Horizons News And Guides

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