Animal Crossing: New Horizons - How to get Lilies of the Valley and Gold Roses

You know about mums, roses, lilies, hydrangeas, cosmos, and windflowers. But have you heard of Lilies of the Valley, the rarest flower in Animal Crossing?

Or what about those of you trying to get every color of flower in Animal Crossing: New Horizons — is the Gold Rose still eluding you? There might be a reason.

If you're after the rarest flowers out there, you'll need to accomplish some pretty lofty goals in Animal Crossing: New Horizons first. Here's how to get Gold Roses and Lilies of the Valley:

How do I get a 5-star town?

Getting a 5-star town is the first step to getting both Gold Roses and Lilies of the Valley. If you don't have this, you can't proceed with the rest of this guide.

Evaluations to get a 5-star town unlocks when you upgrade the Resident Services building, and Isabelle shows up. You can ask her to evaluate the island at any time, and she'll give it a star rating based on how well-decorated it is, among other factors. You'll first need to reach a 3-star rating to finish Project K, and then you can begin working on 5-star.

It can be difficult to get a 5-star rating, so we've got a more complete guide to accomplishing this. But, in short: plant flowers and trees, decorate everything, make sure you have eight or more residents and don't throw trash anywhere.

How do I get Gold Roses?

Once you have a 5-star town and perform the evaluation where Isabelle tells you you've got it, she'll give you a DIY recipe for a Gold Watering Can. It costs one regular Watering Can and one Gold Ore to make.

To get Gold Roses, you'll first need Black Roses. To grow those, you'll need Red Roses. If you started the game with roses native to your island, you can get Red Roses from Nook's Cranny, or you'll just have them already around.

Plant two or more Red Roses next to one another, and make sure there's space around them. For best results, plant them diagonal to one another, with one of the plants one space up and one space to the left or right of the other. Then, water the roses (it doesn't matter what watering you can use).

Keep watering them every day. Every day that you water with them will give a chance the next day for a new rose plant to spawn. Two red roses can produce more red roses, but it can also produce Black Roses. Keep doing this until you get Black Roses (if it rains, you don't have to water).

To get Gold Roses, you'll need two Black Roses (or more) and a Gold Watering Can. Plant the Black Roses next to one another just like you did the Red Roses, and water them with the Gold Watering Can. Keep doing this daily, and you'll eventually boot up the game to a Gold Rose plant.

What are Lilies of the Valley?

Liles of the Valley are the rarest flower in Animal Crossing, and that's because there's never any guaranteed way to get them.

Formerly known in previous games as Jacob's Ladder, Lilies of the Valley only come in one color (sort of a blue-ish white) and do not come from seeds. You can't find them (as far as we know) on Nook Miles Islands, and you can't have them as the starting flower in your town.

You also can't pick them and wear them -- you can move them with the shovel, or sell them for 222 Bells, but they're really just as a visible marker of one very particular accomplishment:

How do I get them?

The only way to get a Lily of the Valley to spawn is to have a 5-star town and...wait.

Yup, that's it. There's no way to game it. Lilies of the Valley spawn randomly in 5-star towns. You'll have to keep your town at a 5-star rating, and every day it stays at that ranking, you'll have a chance to spawn these flowers.

There's nothing you can do to increase your chances of getting these, except to make sure you keep your town at a 5-star ranking. Keep trash off the ground, and don't take away too many decorations. Check in with Isabelle regularly to make sure you're keeping it up, and check your whole town every day to see if new flowers have spawned!

Want more rare flowers?

Struggling to get that perfect town? Can't get Gold Roses to appear? Let me know in the comments below.