Animal Crossing: New Horizons features loads of flower types to grow, and if you’re willing to put the effort in, there are some rare hybrid flowers that can be bred to really make your island shine.

Flowers are a longtime staple of the Animal Crossing franchise. At first glance, they may seem like little more than a pleasant way to make your island look pretty, but there’s actually quite a lot of depth to them for players who take the time to experiment.

It all comes down to cross-pollination, which essentially means that flowers of the same type that are planted next to each other can breed and — if you’re lucky — produce new hybrid colors that you won’t find naturally and can’t buy at Nook’s Cranny.

• You’ll first need to get a golden watering can DIY recipe, which will be given to you when your town gets a five-star evaluation from Isabelle.
• Once you’ve crafted that tool, you’ll need to grow black roses by breeding red roses together.
• After you’ve got a black rose, simply water it with your gold watering can, and you might have a gold rose to show off the next day!

For more detail on growing gold roses, we’ve got a more in-depth guide for growing gold roses that you can find right here.

That’s everything you need to know about growing flowers and cross-pollinating to breed hybrid colors in Animal Crossing New Horizons.

For more tips and tricks to help you on your island, check out our list of guides:

How to get Ankha in Animal Crossing | How to get Raymond in Animal Crossing | How to get Gayle in Animal Crossing | How to get Iron Nuggets fast | Animal Crossing turnips guide | Animal Crossing terraforming ideas