Roses

Overview

Roses are a flower crop in Starsand Island that grows exclusively during Autumn. The three base colors (Red, Yellow, and Blue) unlock at the Senior Farmer tier of the Farming profession and can be purchased from the Happiness Seed Shop. Through cross-breeding, players can produce six additional hybrid colors: Pink, Orange, Green, Purple, Brown, and Black. This gives Roses a total of nine distinct color variants.

All Roses share the same growth time of 4 days 18 hours (4.75 days) and yield 4 flowers per harvest on standard Farmland. They are single-harvest crops, meaning the plant is consumed after picking and must be replanted from seed. Roses are described in-game as lively flowers that enhance gardens and double as medicinal herbs.

Roses are one of four flower species in Starsand Island alongside Orchids (Spring), Moonrise (Summer), and Tulips (Winter). Each flower species follows the same cross-breeding system, but breeding only works between flowers of the same species. You cannot cross a Rose with an Orchid or Tulip.

Quick Stats

Color Variants

Roses come in nine colors. The three base colors are purchased as seeds from the Happiness Seed Shop once you reach Senior Farmer. The six hybrid colors are obtained through cross-breeding. Hybrid rose seeds can also be purchased from the shop after you have bred them, but breeding is the primary method of obtaining new colors.

Black Roses are the rarest and most valuable variant, selling for 418 Coins each. With a yield of 4 per harvest, a single Black Rose plant produces 1,672 Coins worth of flowers. Brown Roses are the second most valuable at 335 Coins per flower. The base-color roses sell for noticeably less, with Red being the cheapest at 194 Coins.

Cross-Breeding Combinations

Cross-breeding works by planting two roses of different colors with one empty tilled plot between them. Both parents must be the same species (both Roses) but different colors. Once both parent plants have fully matured, there is a random chance that a hybrid rose sprouts on the empty plot between them. Success is not guaranteed and multiple attempts may be needed.

Using Nutrient Soil IV fertilizer (available at Senior Farmer for 250 Coins per 5 bags) on the empty middle plot increases the pollination probability by 15%, which significantly improves your cross-breeding success rate. For details on the full mechanics, see the Cross-Breeding Flowers page.

The table below shows every confirmed parent combination for each hybrid rose color. Multiple combinations can produce the same hybrid, so you have flexibility in which parents you use.

Breeding Strategy

The simplest path to unlock all nine colors follows this progression. Start by purchasing Red, Yellow, and Blue Rose Seeds from the Happiness Seed Shop. Then breed secondary colors from those primaries:

1. Red + Red to produce Pink

2. Yellow + Red to produce Orange

3. Blue + Yellow to produce Green

4. Blue + Red to produce Purple

5. Combine two secondary-color roses (for example, Green + Red or Orange + Blue) to produce Brown

6. Pair a Brown Rose with any other color to produce Black

Each step requires at least one full growth cycle (4 days 18 hours) for the parents to mature before cross-breeding can trigger. Plan ahead and plant multiple breeding pairs to improve your odds. The Senior Farmer trial requires 12 Orange, 12 Green, and 12 Purple flowers (of any species), so prioritizing those three secondary colors early is useful for completing the certification.

Growing

All Roses grow on standard Farmland plots. Unlike Paddy Field crops such as Rice or Water Caltrop, Roses need to be watered manually each day. Installing sprinklers on your flower plots saves considerable time and stamina, especially if you are growing large numbers of Roses for cross-breeding experiments.

Roses take 4 days 18 hours to mature. Since Roses only grow in Autumn (28 days), you can fit approximately 5 full growth cycles within the season if you replant immediately after each harvest. Your final planting should go in by day 23 of Autumn at the latest to guarantee a completed harvest before Winter begins.

Roses are single-harvest crops. After you pick the 4 flowers, the plant is consumed and the plot becomes empty. You must replant from seed to continue growing. This is the standard behavior for all flower crops in Starsand Island.

The seed description for base-color roses notes: "Planting in farmland with inter-planting has a chance to cultivate Roses of other colors." This refers to the cross-breeding mechanic. To trigger it, leave an empty tilled and watered plot between two different-colored rose plants.

Gifting Preferences

All nine rose colors share identical gifting preferences. Roses are loved by seven characters, making them a strong gift choice during Autumn when you have a steady supply from your farm.

Since all rose colors trigger the same gifting response, there is no benefit to giving rarer colors like Black or Brown over common Red Roses for the purpose of raising friendship. Save your expensive hybrid roses for selling and use cheaper Red Roses (194 Coins sell value, lowest opportunity cost) as everyday gifts. Graminova is a particularly convenient gifting target since you visit her at the Happiness Seed Shop to buy seeds anyway.

Be sure to avoid giving Roses to Loren, who hates them. For a complete breakdown of every character's preferred gifts, check the Gift Guide.

Uses

Roses serve several purposes in Starsand Island, though they have no cooking or Separator processing recipes.

• Aquascaping and Decoration: Roses can be placed as decorative items to beautify your farm and living spaces. Different colors let you create colorful garden arrangements.

• Gifting: Roses are loved by seven NPCs and liked by most others, making them one of the better gift items during Autumn.

• Cross-Breeding: Breeding roses of different colors produces hybrid offspring. Completing the full color set contributes to Islandpedia entries.

• Senior Farmer Trial: The Senior Farmer certification trial requires 12 Orange, 12 Green, and 12 Purple flowers. Roses can fulfill this requirement alongside other flower species.

• Grinder (Seed Recycling): Loading 2 Roses of the same color into the Grinder produces seeds of that color. This lets you recycle part of your harvest back into planting material, reducing your seed costs over time.

• Selling: Hybrid roses sell for substantially more than base colors. Black Roses (418 Coins each) and Brown Roses (335 Coins each) are especially profitable.

Everlasting Seeds

Like all crops in Starsand Island, Roses have an Everlasting seed variant. Everlasting Rose Seeds produce a plant that does not disappear after harvest. Instead, the rose regrows and can be harvested again without replanting, eliminating the need to buy new seeds each cycle.

There are several ways to obtain Everlasting Rose Seeds:

• Islandpedia Rewards: Completing certain entries in the Plants section of the Islandpedia may reward you with Everlasting Seeds for specific crops.

• Eternal Blessings Skill: The Senior Farmer tier unlocks the Eternal Blessings skill, which gives a chance of receiving an Everlasting Seed when harvesting any regular crop. The higher your farming proficiency, the better the odds.

• Random Harvest Drops: Occasionally, harvesting a normal rose plant will yield an Everlasting Rose Seed alongside the regular produce.

Everlasting Seeds ignore season restrictions, meaning your Everlasting Rose plants will continue to grow and produce harvests even outside of Autumn. This transforms Roses from a single-season crop into a year-round income source. Given that Black Rose Seeds cost 545 Coins and Brown Rose Seeds cost 440 Coins, Everlasting variants of these expensive colors are particularly valuable since they eliminate a steep recurring expense.

If you remove an Everlasting rose from its plot, the seed returns to your inventory so you can replant it elsewhere without losing your investment.

Tips

• Start breeding early in Autumn: Cross-breeding requires both parent plants to fully mature (4 days 18 hours). With only 28 days in the season, start your first breeding pairs on day 1 to maximize the number of attempts you can fit in.

• Use Nutrient Soil IV on the empty middle plot: This fertilizer boosts pollination probability by 15%. Apply it to every empty breeding plot to significantly improve your chances of producing hybrids.

• Plant multiple breeding pairs: Cross-breeding success is random. Setting up 3 to 5 pairs of the same combination running simultaneously gives you much better odds of getting at least one hybrid per growth cycle.

• Gift cheap Red Roses, sell expensive Black Roses: All rose colors have identical gifting effects. Use 194-Coin Red Roses for gifts and sell your 418-Coin Black Roses for profit.

• Breed toward Black Roses for maximum income: Black Roses sell for 418 Coins each (1,672 Coins per harvest of 4). Once you have Everlasting Black Rose Seeds, you have a year-round high-value crop that costs nothing to replant.

• Complete the Senior Farmer trial with roses: You need 12 Orange, 12 Green, and 12 Purple flowers. Roses are a reliable source since they share the same cross-breeding system as all other flower species.

• Install sprinklers on your rose plots: Unlike Paddy Field crops, Roses need daily watering. Sprinklers automate this task and free up your time for other activities.

• Sell to the Merchant Ship for double profit: The Merchant Ship pays roughly double the standard sell price. Timing your rose sales to coincide with the ship's visits can push Black Rose revenue to around 836 Coins per flower.

• Prioritize Everlasting Seeds for rare colors: Everlasting Black and Brown Rose Seeds are the most impactful because they eliminate the highest seed costs (545 and 440 Coins respectively) and allow year-round growing regardless of season.