Flower Language and why each flower was chosen

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Flower language is such a broad concept, each flower can mean multiple things depending on the country, culture, and book, so I’m making this post to show the specific reason I picked each character’s representative flower.

~What exactly is Flower Language?~

(A big rant about flower language because I like to talk about it gosh dang it)

Flower language, also known as Floriography, has been around for a long time, and meanings have been given to flowers for as long as botanists have been botanising them, meaning there’s many different meanings for flowers depending on the time period, country, or even mythology. However, with that said, Flower language was well known during the Victorian Era, when people couldn’t express certain thoughts or feelings as outwardly as we can now. People would buy books that had lists and meanings for different flowers, and would put together bouquets (or simply one type of flower) and give them to people as a way of communicating things that couldn’t be spoken aloud, not only could different flower arrangements and combinations mean different things, but even the way of holding said bouquet could convey the emotion of the person handing the bouquet and how the person would be receiving it. This was since then called “Victorian Flower Language.” It often makes me wonder whether there could have been lots of miscommunication between people who would use flower language, you would have to make sure the person you’re giving a flower to has the same book as you do or else you could send the wrong message, one of my favorite examples being Ivy, which can stand for both marriage and friendship, I imagine you’d probably want to pair that with other flowers of a similar meaning if you really wanted to get the correct message across.

While nowadays we don’t need flower arrangements to convey messages, it’s still a nice thing for any Florist to be aware of, as some wouldn’t like a pretty bouquet that’s secretly full of hate. Besides, it’s such an intriguing concept, and I enjoy adding Floriography to my stories.

*Remember: The “Meaning”s that are listed is simply the reason I picked it to represent that character, many of those flowers means multiple things depending on the time period, culture, or amount given. And to be honest, I didn’t put a whole lot of research into each flower chosen*

Sadie Foxglove

•Foxglove

Meaning: Insincerity, deceit

Reason this flower was chosen:

I picked it because Sadie is represented by a fox, but also “Sadie Foxglove” had a really nice ring to it, and the flower matched what I had in mind for her character design.

Penny Brown

•Yellow Daisy

Meaning: Innocence, Friendship

Brielle Brown

•Wolfsbane

Meaning: Lycanthropy (making one into a werewolf, or curing it)

Reason this flower was chosen:

I picked a wolf to represent Brielle, so naturally Wolfsbane was the first thing that came to my mind, and even added some purple to her color scheme. However Wolfsbane is also known as Monkshood, and is known to be poisonous to touch, not something you’d want around you. I felt it was fitting that Brielle, a closed off, snappy, “leave me alone I’m working” type of girl would have a poisonous flower to represent her.

(Another note: Brielle does actually have somewhat of a lycanthropy theme in Step III, but that’s not to say she’s a werewolf by typical definition, you’ll hear more about that later)

Benjamin Brown

•Bluebell

Meaning: humility, gratitude

Reason this flower was chosen:

Frankly I mainly chose it because Ben has blue as a color and “Bluebell” has the first five letters of “Bluebird,” but the meaning could match his character a bit.

Clementine Bellamy

•Fragaria, Strawberry Flower

Meaning: Purity, Innocence

Reason this flower was chosen:

I liked the idea of Clementine being represented by strawberries, that was the only reason I picked it, she’s a sweet girl with a sweet flower :)

Sylas Crowell

•Stephanotis

Meaning: Desire to travel

Reason this flower was chosen:

Buddy can’t stay still. In all seriousness it’s because he’s always had a desire for travel and doesn’t like being in the same place for too long, very straightforward choice of flower.

Sebastian Crowell

•”Black Prince” Snapdragon

Meaning: Deception, Deviousness

Reason this flower was chosen:

I don’t really like talking about the specifics of what he did, but he is a horrible man who is just pure deception in a trench coat. Not only is he a murderer, but he’s not exactly that great to his son either, despite the both of them upholding a nice father-son dynamic that has the whole town believing he’s a good man. Anyone who spends more time with Sylas could realize it’s not the case at all, and Sadie travels with them so there was no way she wouldn’t catch onto things. But if he were to ask, Sadie would just explain how snapdragons can represent “strength.” Frankly I think it’s a beautiful flower (and I just have a soft spot for Snapdragons since they were my childhood flower) and that he doesn’t deserve it.

Barbara Black

•Rhododendron

Meaning: Danger, Caution, Beware

Reason this flower was chosen:

The Tailor is in a constant state of anxiety and worry, she has this sense of dread constantly following her, and wears a mask 24/7 just in case an Infected somehow gets past the rivers, so I liked the idea of her flower reflecting her constant paranoia of being in danger.

The Carpenter

•Yellow Rose

Meaning: Friendship, Jealousy

Jolie Cardinal

•Dandelion

Meaning: grief, hope, resilience

Reason this flower was chosen:

The simple reason I picked a Dandelion for Jolie is because she holds a wish deep within her heart, but I find its symbolism matches her character to the tea.

Spider

•Spider Lily

Meaning: Parting, Death

Reason this flower was chosen:

I liked the idea of a little troublemaker being named Spider, however the downside is I was afraid the “Lily” part would make people think he was a girl. The other reason is a bit of a spoiler, but poor Spider is doomed by the narrative to one day become fully Infected and pass away, leaving Mary on her own (or that’s what you’re lead to believe, the plot has since then gone in a different direction ;))

Mary

•Marigold

Meaning: warmth, grief, mourning

Reason this flower was chosen:

I wanted to pick a yellow flower that could be “nickname-able,” so Marigold was perfect, the meaning worked nicely for her as well.

Nicholas Bellamy

•Sunflower

Meaning: long life, lasting happiness

Reason this flower was chosen:

If you were to hear about Nico’s story, you may find it strange for him to be represented by a sunflower, in fact Nico himself probably doesn’t understand why Sadie considers him as such. However the meaning actually matches him quite well, as despite things seeming dull in the present, things will take a turn for the better, he just has to wait. He has a long life ahead of him, and it will have plenty of happiness.

Gabriel Flintlock

•Snowdrop

Meaning: Renewal, new beginnings, life, death and bad luck

Reason this flower was chosen:

I’ll be honest, all of this matches him to some degree, it also just sums up Step II lol (which is when he is introduced)

August B. Flintlock

•Aster*

Meaning: Patience, valour, wisdom

*Flower subject to change

June Reese

•Orange Blossom

Meaning: Love, purity, new beginnings

Reason this flower was chosen:

(To be added)

Colette

•White Rose

Meaning: Purity, innocence, loyalty

*More will be added*

~The Story and Other Information~

*some information in this post may be outdated*

 ~The Story~

Brooklet Avenue follows Penny Brown, Brielle Brown, and Benjamin Brown, three siblings who have been living with their aunt, Sadie Brown, in a River Town for five years. They have been with their aunt ever since mysterious creatures, known as the “Infected,” began appearing all over the world, causing the Brown siblings to have to leave their previous home. Their aunt is a polite, but kind of strange woman who runs a flower shop, known as Brooklet Avenue Floristry, she has an interest in botany, and enjoys pairing the townspeople with specific flowers based on their personalities, even changing her surname to be “Foxglove.” Over the years, the people of The River Town have found ways to adapt to their new world, but some have a harder time accepting their new reality than others, some even try to ignore it, and find themselves living in a world of escapism.

~

~The Concept~

I made Brooklet Avenue because I wanted a story that both displayed my enjoyment of flower language and floristry (The Florist Shop), but also was a story about a cute little town (Aesthetic), with a slight apocalyptic twist (Plot). Don’t ask me why but apparently I was in the mood to create a story with zombies and flowers.

~Inspirations~

The idea was originally sparked when I was looking at things for Little Nightmares, and I pulled some inspiration from Amphibia too, but later on I would be inspired by things like Over The Garden Wall, and the 90s version of Moomin Valley. In other words, it’s a big mix of things I was (and still am) enjoying :)

~The Name~

The idea of the name of the story kind of came out of nowhere, one day I just thought: “What if there was a place with rivers and streams instead of pathways, and instead of riding little bicycles and stuff they had little boats?” I liked the idea of the little boats because then they could have different items and decorations depending on the character (however I seem to like the idea more than the drawing process…). Despite it being a small town, I thought “Brooklet Avenue” sounded better than “River Town,” so that’s why it’s called that, despite not really being an “Avenue” per say. I still use the term “The River Town” however, because the other places outside of the forest is just called things like “The Ocean Town” or “The Lake Town,” etc. The focal point of the story however, is Sadie Foxglove’s Flower shop, also called “Brooklet Avenue Floristry,” which sits alongside a river, together with the flower shop, a bakery, and some undecided shops I’m still thinking of, it forms Brooklet Avenue, hence the name of the story.

~World Building~

Brooklet Avenue is strictly a fictional story, in a fictional world, just like all my other stories, for my own sanity because I can’t stand the idea of getting things wrong when they’re in certain time periods. However it is loosely based on 1870s America, also known as the Gilded Age (when I say loosely based, I mean it, for example my characters fashion is not based on 1870s fashion). This is because the 1870s was the time when railroads and steamboats were the preferred method of transportation, and technology was just being introduced through telephone poles, phonographs, and the lightbulb. Among other reasons.

However this story focuses on Brooklet Avenue and the forest surrounding it, so you may not see most of the other towns or cities unless I want to draw a scene with them.

~Story Telling~

This story isn’t a book, or a comic, as I’ve always imagined it simply taking the form of illustrations, however whether I ever make any of those illustrations or not is unknown, as my ambition does not often align with my motivation.

With that said, I very much may still draw sketches and doodles of the characters, or maybe even do some storyboards, however storyboards are more unlikely than the illustrations.