The Nature Day event arrives every year in Animal Crossing: New Horizons in the last week of April. Leif the Sloth and his Garden Shop made their New Horizons debut when this event first launched in April 2020 on the island's main plaza.
Coinciding with the real-world Earth Day, Nature Day is a celebration of all things natural, leafy and plant-y. But what exactly can you expect from Nature Day? Is it another festival along the lines of the egg-filled Bunny Day? In this guide we've collected all available information on Nature Day event in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Nature Day Event
What is Nature Day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
Nature Day in Animal Crossing coincides (approximately) with Earth Day, a real-world event which began in 1970 and focuses on environmentalism and highlighting the natural world. Earth Day takes place on 22nd April annually and in previous Animal Crossing games this date heralded the 'Nature Day' event.
Arriving initially in update v1.2.0, Nintendo previously referenced this day as an "Earth Day event", although Nature Day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons lasts for two whole weeks.
When is Nature Day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
In 2021, the Nature Day event begins on 22nd April — coinciding with Earth Day itself — and lasts for two weeks (much longer than the single-day event in previous Animal Crossing games).
In 2020, the event lasted from 23rd April to 4th May, starting a day after its real-world counterpart.
For the week preceding the arrival of Nature Day 2021, an antique globe is available to order from Nook Shopping:
Who is Leif the Sloth?
Leif is a character from Animal Crossing: New Leaf who ran the Gardening Store and sold unique flowers, trees and other plant-based produce and supplies. He also appears in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp looking for hybrid flowers as part of Leif's Spring Flower Event which involves collecting flowers and rare bugs.
In New Horizons, Leif visits on random days and has a stall on the main plaza selling garden-related items, including rare flower seeds and unique bushes and shrubs — not originally available before the 23rd April 2020 update. Following this update, Leif's Garden Shop now appears regularly on your main plaza, similar to shoe-and-apparel seller Kicks or travelling fashionista Label.
What happens during the Nature Day event in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
In addition to hosting the first appearance of Leif, limited-time Nature Day activities unlock for the duration of the event that reward you with new Nook Miles achievements. These involve completing tasks such as planting shrubs and trees around your town and watering plants. Completing these tasks will unlock the ability to craft hedgerows.
On Nature Day in previous games, the (dearly-departed?) Mayor Tortimer would gift the player nature-based items and speak about trees and nature. Unfortunately, the tortoise doesn't return for the event in New Horizons, but that's not to say he won't appear at some time in the future — on his own retirement island, perhaps?
How to craft hedges in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
After completing some Nature Day-themed Nook Miles+ achievements, speak to Tom Nook in Resident Services and he'll give you the DIY recipe for hedges. You can use this to craft standard green hedgerows using the following materials:
- x10 clump of weeds
- x5 tree branches
- x2 stones
Hedges are classified as fences in New Horizons and crafting 'one' will get you 10 hedge 'panels'. Once you have them you can add some more natural-looking barriers around your island or even construct a hedge maze like the one found on the exclusive May Day island.
How can I prepare for Nature Day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
Given the nature of the day (ahem) and Leif's green-fingered role in the Animal Crossing series, you'll need a freshly-crafted shovel on hand to plant bushes around your island. Of course, you'll need Bells to buy Leif's unique wares, and it might be a good idea to upgrade your inventory to its maximum capacity in order to carry as many plants as possible. It's also a good time to collect all the weeds on your island ready to sell to Leif for double what Timmy and Tommy will give you.
Scouting out good spots to plant shrubs and bushes would be useful - we tend to line them along the sides of buildings, but you could go to town building mazes (recreating the hedge maze from the May Day event) or dotting them around in the open at random. Remember, moving a shrub is even easier than moving a tree (and no different from moving a plant - simply take out your shovel, dig it up and plant it elsewhere).
If you want to get into the spirit of Nature Day, you might want to investigate how to breed flowers and beautify your island for the event. It would also be prudent to have a nice new watering can ready to go for the Nature Day event.
Leif's Garden Shop Unique Items List - Shrubs you can only get from Leif
Leif the Sloth's Garden Shop can be found on random days on the main plaza of your island (approximately once every two weeks). There you can buy rare flower seeds and unique shrubs. You can also sell weeds at double the price you get in Nook's Cranny, so it might be a good time to clean up your island when he visits (we actually quite like the look of the weeds on our island, but you'll need to get rid of them if you want a 5-star island rating).
Leif carries various starter shrubs and bushes that you can only purchase from him, including azaleas - the 'happiest' shrub of all. Here's a list of everything you can buy from him:
| Shrub | Available colours |
|---|---|
| Azalea | Pink, White |
| Camellia | Pink, Red |
| Hibiscus | Red, Yellow |
| Holly | Red |
| Hydrangea | Blue, Pink |
| Tea-Olive | Orange, Yellow |
This article is part of our Animal Crossing: New Horizons walkthrough, which includes a Complete Fish List, Complete Bug List and Complete Sea Creatures List. If you're looking for specific fish or bug, we can tell you how to catch the elusive Coelacanth, Mahi-Mahi, Giant Trevally, Stringfish, Golden Trout and all the Sharks and Beetles, along with a full list of Critters leaving at the end of the month. We've also compiled a Complete Villager List and a Complete List of K.K. Slider Songs, as well as the Best Custom Design Codes and Islands we've found so far, and the best islands to visit using Dream Address Codes.
We can also help with How to Spot Redd's Fake Paintings and Statues, How to Make Bells Fast, How to Breed Flowers, How to Get more DIY Recipes, How to Upgrade Nook's Cranny, where and when to find special characters like Gulliver, Sable, Label, Wisp, Celeste, Pirate Gulliver and Jack, plus tips on using the Star Wand, Tool Ring, Rock Trick, Cutting Down and Moving Trees, using amiibo on Harv's Island, How to Back Up Your Island Data, How to Time Travel, How to Get a 5-Star Island Rating and a whole lot more.
And finally Where to Buy Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Nintendo Switch if for some reason you haven't yet picked up the game.
Comments (13)
FYI the grave seen in the Nintendo Direct is just a decoration you can create with a DIY recipe in game. Animal Crossing never has (and I expect never will) include death.
They need to make one Manila clam craft at least x10 bait, completely cut out the crafting animation.
The game feels a bit rushed imo.
If this event is anything like the last one, I may have to just quit the game. Life is too short.
@GoddessKofuku Didn't the Able sisters mention their parents passing? In this go in fact?
If my dreams last night were a harbinger of things to come, that clown-pig-sloth-raccoon thing will scar a generation of children.
@Skid Yep, but that's very different from the death of a character that was actually a part of the game that players knew and interacted with.
@ShadowSmile Perhaps you should take a break if you feel so annoyed? Not trying to be cause I played even more than you did but 155 hours in less than a month equals to 6 hours x day. That's a lot of animal crossing ^^ maybe too much?
Just let me catch fish not something else when I’m fishing and I don’t care what it’s all about.
Wonder if Redd and Brewster are gonna be the May events?
@DaCh33f i hope so, Animal Crossing is not Animal Crossing without the Art Gallery with Crazy Redd and Roost with Brewster.
@GoddessKofuku "Animal Crossing never has (and I expect never will) include death."
Not entirely true. I just had a conversation with the Able Sisters about how their parents passed away when Mabel was very little, and Sable basically had to raise her sister. It was all delivered in a very lighthearted Animal Crossing sort of way, but it's still pretty heavy subject matter!
@Moon "They need to make one Manila clam craft at least x10 bait, completely cut out the crafting animation."
This isn't an oversight by the developers. Animal Crossing is not an efficient game by design, and bait fishing, it's not supposed to be a superior way to catch fish, which it would be if bait was easy to craft in large quantities. It's a trade off: you can either patrol the shores looking for fish; or you can hunt for clams, craft bait, and then fish from one location. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, but if you could quickly and easily craft 100 bags of bait then that would immediately become the preferred method, which is against the design goals of the game.
@GoddessKofuku I have one in my town now. I'm waiting to find a skeleton that I can bury in front of it
I'd love a tweak to the ladder item. I'd like to be able to place it next to a cliff so I can climb up and down without having to carry it/equip it each time. Maybe craft 8 or so ladders and dot them around some cliffs
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