All the Animal Crossing: New Horizons shrubs available and how to plant them

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Here's how to plant, source, and care for New Horizons shrubs

animal crossing new horizons shrubs
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Animal Crossing: New Horizons shrubs are a great way to decorate your island, along with trees, flowers, and of course, furniture. They're a brand new addition to the game and work a little bit like flowers, but also a little bit like trees. 

You can buy New Horizons shrubs from Leif, the returning nature-loving sloth, who will appear as one of the weekly Animal Crossing: New Horizons visitors. He'll offer a range of shrubs each week, along with flowers that don't grow natively on your island. 

Here's everything you need to know about Animal Crossing: New Horizons shrubs:

All the known Animal Crossing: New Horizons shrubs

animal crossing new horizons shrubs and leif

(Image credit: Nintendo)

These are currently all the shrubs available in New Horizons and when they will bloom. Otherwise, they'll just look like a normal, flowerless shrub.

  • Azaleas (white and pink) - Bloom from mid-April to late May
  • Camelias (pink and red) - Bloom from early February to late March
  • Hibiscus (red and yellow) - Bloom from late July to mid-September
  • Holly (red) - Bloom from early November to late December
  • Hydrangeas (blue and pink) - Bloom from early June to mid-July
  • Tea Olives (orange and yellow) - Bloom from late September to late October

How to plant a shrub starter

Planting a shrub is as simple as planting a flower. You don't have to dig a hole beforehand, but it does make them easier to place if you have a specific design in mind. You just go into your pockets, pick the shrub you want to plant and then just plant it. Shrubs away!

Things to note about Animal Crossing: New Horizons shrubs

  1. Unlike Animal Crossing: New Horizons flowers, shrubs can't be crossbred to make hybrid colors and variants. 
  2. Shrubs don't need to be watered
  3. You can't walk through a shrub like you can flowers
  4. Can be dug up at any time, even fully grown, without the aid of fruit
  5. Snails will slime over them during rainy weather

For more Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides, check out our handy list below:

Sam Loveridge
Sam Loveridge
Brand Director, GamesRadar+

Sam Loveridge is the Brand Director and former Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar. She joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.