Animal Crossing New Horizons: How to Get Blue Roses

There are two different methods for getting Blue Roses in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You must decide if the more involved method is worth it for the higher Blue Rose spawn percentage or if you’d rather take the simple route.

Featured image provided by Reddit user u/CuriousKeebler

What Is Cross-Breeding?

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you will have the opportunity to cross-breed your Flowers to make new Flowers of different colors. You can do this by planting specifically-colored flowers across from each other or in a checkerboard pattern and then waiting for new Flowers to spawn in between them. You’ll need to follow this guide carefully to complete the process of cross-breeding Roses to be able to get Blue ones.

How to Get Blue Roses

via Reddit (u/CuriousKeebler)

Blue Roses are the Flowers with the most complicated cross-breeding process. There are two different methods for getting them. Both methods involve a process of cross-breeding, though one method takes more work than the other.

If you use the simpler method of cross-breeding Orange and Purple Roses, you will end up with Hybrid Red Roses that have a 1.6% chance of spawning Blue Roses. If you follow the more complicated cross-breeding process to get Special Hybrid Red Roses, you will have Special Hybrid Red Roses with a 25% chance of spawning Blue Roses.

Note that “time-traveling” (manually controlling the time and date on your Nintendo Switch in the Settings) is highly recommended—especially for the more complex route—or this will take a very long time.

Basic Method for Blue Roses (1.6% Chance of Growth)

The simplest route for obtaining Blue Roses doesn’t take too much time. No matter which method you decide on, you must start by purchasing White, Red, and Yellow Rose Seeds from Nook’s Cranny. You don’t want to use Roses that didn’t start from purchased Seeds because they may have been cross-bred several times already, and they have a different DNA sequence.

Note that if your island does not grow Roses naturally, these Seeds will not be available at Nook’s Cranny. In this case, you’ll want to visit a friend’s island to buy the seeds from there.

Step One: How to Get Orange Roses

via Nookipedia

After you’ve purchased Red and Yellow Rose Seeds from Nook’s Cranny, plant one Red Rose across from one Yellow Rose. You can plant as many sets of Red and Yellow Roses across from each other as you want to boost the number of Orange Roses that will appear. Once planted, water these plants each day with your Watering Can until as many Orange Roses spawn as you desire.

Note that for each step of this process, we recommend getting at least a small group of each type of Rose so that you have a higher chance of spawning more for the next step. If none appear, you may need to water them again and wait an additional day.

Step Two: How to Get Purple Roses

via Nookipedia

You will also need to have Purple Roses to eventually make Blue Roses. To get Purple Roses, plant your White Rose Seeds across from each other and repeat the process of watering and waiting that you used to make the Orange Roses in the last step. Once you have your desired amount of Purple and Orange Roses, you can move on.

Step Three: How to Get Hybrid Red Roses

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You’ll want to dig up your Purple and Orange Roses from the previous steps and replant them to get Hybrid Red Roses next. Simply plant sets of Orange and Purple Roses across from each other, water them each day, and wait for your desired number of Hybrid Red Roses to eventually spawn.

Note that Purple and Orange Roses have a 50% chance of spawning Hybrid Red Roses that can produce Blue Roses and a 50% chance of spawning Hybrid Red Roses that cannot produce Blue Roses. There is no way to tell these apart, except by trying to cross-breed them and seeing if they happen to produce Blue Roses.

Step Four: How to Make Blue Roses

via Nookipedia

Finally, once you’ve gotten your group of Hybrid Red Roses, you’re ready to move on to your last step for the simple Blue Rose method. Once again, you’ll just need to repeat the steps you’ve done already, this time with your Hybrid Red Roses.

Plant them across from each other, water them each day, and wait. Note that it will likely take a long time to see Blue Roses appear, as the growth rate with this method is significantly low. However, eventually, some of the Hybrid Red Roses may spawn Blue Roses.

Involved Method for Blue Roses (25% Chance of Growth)

via Game8

This method is based on the Flower Genes in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which have been discovered via Data Mining. It is estimated that this method will take approximately 11 hours to complete and 90 days (though remember, you can “time-travel” via your time and date settings on the Nintendo Switch).

As with the simple method, you must start the involved method by purchasing White, Red, and Yellow Rose Seeds from Nook’s Cranny. Note that this method has a few more steps and will take more time, but the payoff is a significantly higher spawn rate for Blue Roses at the end of it. If your island does not naturally grow Roses, you’ll want to travel to a friend’s island to purchase these Seeds. Do not use Roses that did not start from purchased Seeds, as these have different DNA sequences and may have been cross-bred already.

Important note: This method involves Roses that look the same in color but have different DNA sequences (i.e., White Roses vs. New White Roses). Due to this, you will want to ensure that you have a way to differentiate between original and new Roses that will not rely on appearance. We suggest setting aside a large portion of land for this process and keeping separate sections of flowers for each step listed below.

Step One: How to Get Purple Roses

via Nookipedia

Like in the previous method, you will first need to create Purple Roses. To create them, plant your White Rose Seeds across from each other and water them each day. Eventually, Purple Roses will spawn between your White Roses. Continue this until you’ve grown your desired amount of Purple Roses.

Step Two: How to Get New White Roses

via Nookipedia

Diverging from the previous method, your next step will be to grow “New” White Roses. These New White Roses will have a different DNA sequence that is required for this method. To get these, simply cross-breed your Purple Roses from the last step with your Yellow Rose Seeds. Plant the Yellow and Purple Roses across from each other, water them each day, and wait. After enough days have passed that you’ve gathered your desired amount of New White Roses, you can move on.

Step Three: How to Get New Purple Roses

via Nookipedia

Just like you needed New White Roses earlier, you will now need New Purple Roses that will have a different DNA sequence from the Purple Roses you used earlier in this process. To get New Purple Roses, you must cross-breed your New White Roses with the Purple Roses you used earlier.

Plant sets of these across from each other, water them each day, and wait for New Purple Roses to spawn. Note that both the original type of Purple Roses and New Purple Roses can spawn from this process, so you will need to “test” ALL Purple Roses that spawn during this process to ensure they specifically have the New Purple Rose DNA.

Step Four: How to Test Your Purple Roses

via Nookipedia

Some of the Purple Roses produced from the last step will work for cross-breeding Blue Roses, and some of them will not. To differentiate the ones that will work, you must test all the Purple Roses produced from the previous step. To test them, you must cross-breed them all with Yellow Rose Seeds.

Plant your Purple Roses from the last step across from Yellow Rose seeds, water them each day, and wait. The Purple Roses that spawn ONLY White Roses will NOT work for the rest of this process. The Purple Roses that spawn BOTH White Roses and Yellow Roses are the ones you will need for the next step.

Step Five: How to Get Special White Roses

via Nookipedia

To spawn Blue Roses, you will also need Special White Roses. To get these, take the New Purple Roses from the last step (the ones that were proven to spawn both White and Yellow Roses), and cross-breed them with each other. Follow the same method you’ve been using to cross-breed Roses throughout this process, and this will spawn your Special White Roses. Be sure to get a group of these Special White Roses and save them.

Step Six: How to Get Black Roses

via Nookipedia

After you’ve collected a group of Special White Roses, you will need to get Black Roses for the next stage of this process. To get Black Roses, simply plant your Red Rose Seeds (that you purchased from Nook’s Cranny earlier) across from each other. Plant sets of these, water them each day, and wait until your desired number of Black Roses spawn.

Step Seven: How to Get Hybrid Red Roses

via Nookipedia

Next, you’ll need to get a group of Hybrid Red Roses. Cross-breed your Black Roses with your Special White Roses that you have saved by following the same process of planting them across from each other, watering each day, and waiting. This will eventually spawn the Hybrid Red Roses you need.

Step Eight: How to Get Orange Roses

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Note that though you can get Orange Roses through cross-breeding normal Red and Yellow Roses, those will not work for this method. You must make Orange Roses by cross-breeding your Hybrid Red Roses with your Special White Roses. Plant your Hybrid Red Roses across from your Special White Roses, water them each day, and wait. Eventually, the Orange Roses you need will spawn from these.

Step Nine: How to Get Special Hybrid Red Roses

via Nookipedia

This is your last step before finally being able to create Blue Roses. Take your Orange Roses from the previous step and cross-breed them with your Special White Roses that you’ve used several times throughout this process. Repeat the same steps of planting, watering, and waiting that you’ve been following, and this will eventually spawn the Special Hybrid Red Roses that you need.

Note that you will want to get a good number of these Special Hybrid Red Roses, as these are what will be used to spawn your Blue Roses.

Step Ten: How to Make Blue Roses

via Nookipedia

Finally, you’re ready to make some Blue Roses. Cross-breed your Special Hybrid Red Roses from the last step through planting them across from each other, watering each day, and waiting. Eventually, these will spawn your Blue Roses! Note that Blue Roses are self-spawning, so once you get some Blue Roses, more are bound to follow naturally over time.