Animal Crossing: New Horizons Lily of the Valley guide: How to get and grow the rare flower

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Get the rarest flower in the game on your island with our Lily of the Valley guide

(Image credit: Nintendo)

You may have visited a friend's island at some point and seen a mysterious flower. Now I bet you're wondering how to get your own Animal Crossing: New Horizons Lily of the Valley. These unusual blooms are the rarest of all the Animal Crossing: New Horizons flowers, and actually can't be grown using traditional means. 

What that actually means is that you can't go and buy Lily of the Valley seeds from Nook's Cranny or Leif. Instead, there are two things that you need to do in order to guarantee you'll start seeing Lily of the Valley pop up on your Animal Crossing: New Horizons island. 

1. Get a 5-star island rating

(Image credit: Nintendo)

The major event that stands between you and getting your own Animal Crossing: New Horizons Lily of the Valley is getting a 5-star island rating. The flowers only bloom spontaneously on islands that Isabelle deems to be worthy of a five-star evaluation. Maybe she has a little greenhouse of them hidden somewhere... 

You can check your island rating by speaking to Isabelle at Resident Services, and there are several things you can do to improve your island rating in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. A cheeky checklist below:

  • Have plenty of outdoor items with lots of variety
  • Use fencing where possible
  • Add bridges and ramps to improve your infrastructure
  • Plant flowers and trees
  • Remove weeds
  • Make sure to pick up any items, turnips or recipes lying on the floor (put them on stands or stalls instead)

2. Wait for your Lily of the Valley flowers to grow

(Image credit: Nintendo)

When you've achieved that 5-star rating (congrats! Go you!) you will notice Lily of the Valley flowers will start popping up on your island. For every week of holding that five-star rating, you will get one new Lily of the Valley appear on your island. 

You can't pick them like other flowers, but you can dig them up with your shovel and plant them elsewhere. Selling them to the Nook nephews will earn you a measly 222 Bells per bloom, as the real value of these flowers is the humble brag of having a five-star island. 

Go the full hog like me and adorn your island entrance with them. It's not smug as long as it's pretty, right? RIGHT?

Sam Loveridge
Sam Loveridge
Global Editor-in-Chief, 12DOVE

Sam Loveridge is the Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar, and 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.

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