Bushes are a type of plant that first appeared in Animal Forest and again in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Bushes were removed from Animal Crossing: Wild World and Animal Crossing: City Folk. In GCN games bushes are low-growing plants that can be walked through, but in Animal Crossing: New Leaf they are a solid object and cannot be walked through.
In Animal Crossing
Like Rocks, bushes come with the town, and can't be planted or moved around the village. Like most of the plants in the player's village, they turn brown in the Autumn. When the player walks through the bush, leaves scatter around the area then disappear. Crickets, Pine Crickets, Bell Crickets and Grasshoppers can be all found in bushes and, when inside, can be hard - if not impossible - to see until they appear or make a noise.
In Animal Crossing: New Leaf
In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, bushes have been redesigned to look like a real bush plant. Once the player has expanded to the T.I.Y. (Nookling Stores), they can be bought at the Gardening Store for a few bells. Red and Yellow Hibiscus bushes will randomly be available on Tortimer's Island for 5-7 medals (the price varies from each time they are available).
Like trees, bushes cannot be planted near houses, rocks, rivers, cliff edges, the train fence, buildings, and Public Works Projects. However, bushes can be planted directly next to other bushes, trees, and the stone paving by the Town Hall, Train Station, Re-Tail, and Plaza. Bushes cannot be walked through, making them effective hedges and fences.
Bushes can grow in a connection of 12 at most. This includes trees and stumps, vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. If a bush or a tree is planted near a sequence of twelve bushes/trees/stumps touching each other, that thirteenth sapling will not grow.
As this mechanic can potentially ruin many long hedges, it is recommended to put some effort into planning before planting them. The purpose of this restricting mechanic is to keep players from fencing in houses of villagers and players who do not have a shovel available.
List of Bushes and Blooming seasons
The chart shows each bush and when they flower and fruit during the year. Blooming seasons only affect the flowers on the bushes. Planting a bush outside of its blooming season does not stop it from growing normally. The bushes sprout buds during the few days of their blooming season, after which they will grow into flowers. Once the season is over, the flowers will disappear, and the bushes go back to their normal flowerless state.
- White and Pink azalea - April 6th - June 15th
- Blue and Pink hydrangea - June 8th - July 5th
- * Red and Yellow hibiscus - June 28th - September 15th
- Sweet-olive - September 8th - November 30th
- Holly - November 26th - March 31st
|Undergrowth vegetation||Flower • Grass • Bush • Jacob's Ladder|
|Trees||Bamboo • Money Tree • Stump • Palm • Tree|
|Weeds||Weed • Clover • Rafflesia • Dandelion|
|Other||Grass Deterioration • Fruit • Flower Fest|