Environment rating

The environment is a gameplay element featured in all installments in the. The Wishing Well or Bell Shrine would tell the player how their town is doing, along with pointing out one acre in particular that needed work. Later, the towns environmental status could be checked in the Town Hall.

Flora
Various flora impacts the players towns environment. Sometimes, villagers will also comment about the environment when talking to the player.

Trees
Trees impact the towns environment and, unlike other flora, cannot be as easily removed. To plant a tree, one must first dig a hole using a shovel. Some trees can only grow in certain parts of town. Cedar trees can only grow in the upper two acres while coconut palms can only grow along the beach.

Flowers
You may want to plant a lot of flowers around your town, as there is no penalty for having your town covered in them. Putting at least one flower in each acre improves your town greatly. If Pelly or Phyllis tells you that you need 'more green', your problem may be a lack of flowers. You can plant any type or color of flower wherever you want. Just keep the town evenly distributed. You will have to water these flowers as soon as you see them wilting. Lucky for you, you don't have to water them if they are healthy or if it's raining.


 * One tip, stick flowers of the same species together; keep tulips with tulips, roses with roses, etc. You might get lucky and get a hybrid colour.

Weeds
Three weeds show up per day. There is no positive to having weeds whether you want a perfect town or not. If you're going for a perfect town, you're going to have to make sure you don't have a single one of them lying around. Make sure you pick about three daily, or you'll have a problem. Clovers count as weeds and also must also be removed.

Junk
Anything that's not a fruit or flower should NOT be on the ground. Furniture, accessories, and garbage from the sea all fall into this category. Seashells are fine on the beach and do not count as junk.

Messages
When talking with Pelly/Phyllis about the environment, she will relay "messages" that other villagers have given her. Her response will inform you what level of town you currently have in Animal Crossing: City Folk.


 * Worst - "This place is the pits! Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong! There's not a single thing I like in this town!"
 * Bad - I'm not sure what good it will do to write this, but... Could you try and be a bit more thoughtful about your town? Because at this rate..."
 * Neutral - "Hmm... it's not a passing grade, but it's not a failing grade either. It's like more than milk, but not quite a milk shake."
 * Good - "This town is fantastic! But even so, it still seems to be missing something"
 * Perfect - "Fantastic! [Town Name] is in great shape right now! Yep, it's pretty sweeeeet!"

After Pelly/Phyllis relays the message, they will tell you something about the town that will help you get to the next level. For example, at the "getting there" phase, Pelly may tell you that some areas don't have enough green, which is a hint to plant more flowers and trees in areas lacking them. Phyllis's messages tend to be a little more straight-forward about what you need to do, since that is more her style.