Some games have tasks and activities that are fun and exciting while also being very difficult and confusing. Animal Crossing is no different, with one of these types of gameplay elements being crossbreeding flowers.
The ability to cross-pollinate flowers of different colors to produce new ones has resulted in a system of studying genetics, biology, and data organization. Crossbreeding some varieties of the in-game flowers is extremely difficult and requires long processes of selective breeding, while others are pretty simple. Here are the easiest and hardest colors of flowers to produce.
10 Easy - Pink Hyacinths
Hyacinths, which many are surprised to learn are actually real flowers, come in a variety of colors, including red, yellow, white, orange, blue, purple, and pink. The pink hyacinth are very easy to crossbreed. Players simply need to breed red hyacinths with white ones.
Crossbreed these two colors easily by putting them in adjacent diagonal tiles. This is the best formation to breed flowers, maximizing the chances of getting the new color. Be sure to water them each day!
9 Hard - Purple Hyacinths
While pink hyacinths are pretty easy, purple is much harder. Purple hyacinths are bred from two orange hyacinths. In order to get the orange ones, though, players will have to breed red and yellow hyacinths with one another, preferably from seeds bought at Nook’s Cranny.
If the island’s shop doesn’t sell hyacinth seeds, players can wait to see if Leif has them in stock, or ask a friend. If players want a bunch of purple hyacinths, they can breed them with each other to create more.
8 Easy - Orange Pansies
They’re called “orange” pansies, but they don’t appear that orange at first. These fun flowers are actually red and yellow, but they are the closest to orange that pansies get. These flowers also come in purple and blue.
Their red and yellow coloring actually gives away their breeding method: red pansies and yellow pansies. It’s fairly easy, and happens the same as many other orange flower varieties. These “orange” flowers look great in color palettes that could also include red or yellow, since they have both colors as part of their design.
7 Hard - Purple Pansies
Like hyacinths, pansies are easy to make in orange but difficult to find in purple. To get a purple pansy, you’ll need some red pansies. But, it can’t just be any red pansies. These red ones are special “bred” pansies, which have different genes than standard red from seed.
The first step in breeding “bred” red pansies is to make blue pansies from two whites. From there, take a red from seed and your new blue pansies and breed them together to make the special red. Putting these special reds together will then make purple pansies.
6 Easy - Purple Mums
Purple is often one of the more difficult colors to breed, as seen with hyacinths and pansies. However, for mums, it’s one of the easiest. There are a few ways to get purple mums.
Players can breed white with itself, red with yellow, or yellow hybrids with themselves. These hybrid yellows are also made with red and yellow. Many paths will eventually lead to purple, so they shouldn’t be too hard to produce. Mums also come in pink and green.
5 Hard - Green Mums
As the only flower that comes in a green variety, green mums will definitely be on the wish list of those trying to produce rainbows or any other design that requires the color green. Green mums are a pain, though.
Players will need those hybrid yellows that are produced from breeding a red and yellow together from seed. Those yellow hybrids will then hopefully produce greens. Others have reported better success with using those hybrid yellows to produce purple mums, which then produce green ones. It doesn’t seem difficult, but it can be.
4 Easy - Pink Windflowers
One of the more interesting flowers in Animal Crossing are windflowers. These are the only species that come in red, white, and orange by default instead of red, white, and yellow. They can be bred into blue, purple, and pink varieties.
The pink ones are very easy to get a hold of. Simply breed together a red windflower and an orange one. Two white windflowers can create a blue one, which can then also be bred with pink to make another pink one.
3 Hard - Purple Windflowers
Purple windflowers, on the other hand, are extremely difficult to produce. Luckily, there are a few methods. But, each is confusing and has a low chance of actually producing them.
The first involves breeding two white flowers to get a blue one. Use that blue plus a red to get the special hybrid red. Then, use those reds to produce a purple, which has very low odds of appearing. Another method involves crossbreeding pink with blue or pink with itself. All of these methods seem to have low odds of producing a new purple flower, so keep at it!
2 Easy - Black Roses
Roses come in the widest array of colors in the game, available in the default red, yellow, and white, but also in pink, purple, orange, black, gold, and blue. One might assume black would be the hardest to get because it’s so cool, but it’s actually the easiest.
Two red roses bred from seed should produce black roses pretty quickly. These black roses can then be watered with a golden watering can, which can produce solid-gold roses. Those might seem to be the most difficult, but they’re not that hard. The only barrier is getting the recipe for the golden watering can.
1 Hard - Blue Roses
If players are really looking to get every flower color, they’ll be pulling your hair out before even attempting blue roses.
Blue roses are notoriously difficult to grow. Many guides have been written, with different methods for success. Ultimately, it comes down to luck. One of the most straightforward methods is to produce purple roses from two white roses and orange ones from a red and yellow.
Use the purple and orange to create a special hybrid red, and use two of those to make blue roses, which have a very low chance of being produced. There are other methods with varying levels of success for different people.
NEXT: Animal Crossing: 5 Nintendo Characters We’d Want As Villagers (& 5 We Wouldn’t)
