#flowers in bl

[hotasfahrenheit]

AYYYYYY it's me your neighbourhood florist girl with the flower knowledge again!

of COURSE the hydrangeas in the opening credits of the first episode of Spare Me Your Mercy caught my eye and i went "hmm if there's more flowers in this episode then i'll have to make a post" then we just got more hydrangeas but with an obvious focus on them so here we are!

hydrangeas are native to both Asia and the Americas, and while Japan is notorious for having cultivated them, there are ancient fossils of hydrangea blossoms from North America which means they grew in a variety of places and spread from there.

in Japan, hydrangeas traditionally symbolize heartfelt emotion, apology and remorse, because of a legend about an emperor giving hydrangeas as a gift to apologise for neglecting a lover. in Europe, where they were brought in the 18th century, they symbolised boastfulness, bragging and vanity because they produced many blooms but few seeds, and were sent by men to women who had rejected them. in Korea, they represent perserverance and resilience.

the general meaning of blue hydrangeas specifically now lays somewhere around serenity, apology, gratitude and understanding.

hydrangeas are a neat flower in that some varieties can act as a pH gauge for your garden soil- higher acidity leads to blue petals, but alkaline soil will change the petals to pink. by changing the acidity of your soil, you can adjust the colour of the petals. (white varieties can't be manipulated because they don't have pigment.)

they grow from early spring to late autum, and though most grow as shrubs around 1-3m tall, some are small trees and others grow as lianas, which are a long stemmed woody vine that climbs other trees; these varieties can reach up to 30m tall.

if you have cut hydrangeas at home, you can help maintain their bloom or restore wilting by immersing them in hot hot HOT water- even boiling- to help them freshen. the petals can also absorb water since they're technically actually a type of leaf, so you can also dunk your hydrangea blooms into room temperature water petal-first to help them rehydrate. this is a thing i've done at work as a florist- at the grocery store chain i started doing floral at, we always put our hydrangea bunches into buckets of steaming hot water, the hottest we could get from the faucets, when we processed incoming shipments and had given them fresh stem cuts before putting them out for sale.

in both Japan and Korea, some varieties of hydrangea are used for tea, while in the Americas, the Cherokee used the root as a diuretic and the bark as pain relief for muscle pain and burns, and as a remedy for stone and gravel in the bladder.

hydrangeas are also known as hortensia. the name "hydrangea", which derives from the Greek words for "water vessel", comes from the shape of the seed capsules, which resembled a water pitcher. they're called hortensia, supposedly for the name Hortense and after French astronomer and mathematician Nicole-Reine Lepaute, who was not actually named Hortense at all. she was named Nicole-Reine. someone tried to name them Lepautia or Peautia after her, but since they ended up being called hortensia (probably from hortus, which means garden) it's reversed into people thinking Hortense was her name instead of them being actually named after her.

so yes, with the associations with apology, remorse, serenity, understanding.... i'm not surprised to see them here, especially in the episode itself, but i am very intrigued, especially since being in the opening credits means we'll see them there at least through the whole show even if they don't show up again in the actual narrative. the fact that they symbolise remorse and grow around Tiu's mother's house, when he wasn't able to be there to see her before her death, is not lost on me.

hope this knowledge dump was fun and interesting to at least someone! i'll be back with another of these posts next time i catch some significant flowers in another show 🌸🌼🌹🌺🌷

[lazzarella]

Perfect 10 Liners Ep. 24

[cynicallyneutral]

「coward」

[cryptid-quill]

new colorfes cards made me rise from the dead, I give art of gay people as offerings

[nohshinwoos]

Can you move away a bit? The closer I look at you, the cuter you get, Beagle. This is not the time!

Perfect 10 Liners, EP.24

[dailyhatsune]

this is my attempt to see if it's possible to get miku to sing in korean. i tried using her english voicebank here but i feel like a certain accent is quite strong here... i haven't given japanese a shot but i doubt it'll work due to some missing vowels + end consonants

i'm posting this in case some korean followers have any notes on how to improve miku's pronunciation (if it's even possible)

[respectthepetty]

Upcoming Taiwanese BLs

We are over halfway through 2024, and as usual, I've only had two Taiwanese BLs (Unknown, Anti Reset), so even though I'm sitting on a stack of BLs to watch every single week from other countries, call me Smaug because I need MORE!

Honorary Korean BL: Uncovering the Curse of Taekwondo (2024)

Former friends (and possibly lovers) reunite at a funeral after going their separate ways for over a decade, but, honestly, I don't care about the plot because this comes from Hwang Da Seul who was behind Blueming, To My Star, and Where Your Eyes Linger, so I know it's going to be amazing. There is a movie and a series version, and the movie already premiered at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea at the beginning of July. The runtime was 154 minutes, but the series is eight episodes around thirty minutes each and is currently seeking distribution.

First Note of Love (August 2024)

My most beloved, Charles Tu, from my favorite BL HIStory 4: Close to You is finally returning to me in the form of a washed-up singer who stepped away from the spotlight due to a tragic event only to be dragged back in by an up-and-coming composer who is also a longtime fan. It is a joint production with Thailand's Star Hunter Entertainment (the company behind Big Dragon, Love Senior, City of Stars, and Sunset x Vibes) and features a side couple of a Thai singer and a Taiwanese agent. It will involve singing, but I'm already too comfortable in my seat with my snacks to care.

Fragrance of the First Flower Season 2 (2024)

The lone GL holding down this list finished filming late last year and Gagaoolala has been releasing BTS images since filming began, so it'll likely land there once it is released. The series is a continuation of the 2021 first season, which people were not thrilled about because of the ending, so this season should solve some of the angst we were left with by exploring the two women actually coming together to navigate life as a couple.

The Only One (August 2024)

Directed by Liu Kuang Hui, who directed Your Name Engraved Herein, written by the same folks behind The Untamed, and based on Mu Su Li's novel A Certain Someone which is about two boys whose parents are dating and move in together, so the mains go from enemies-to-??? and the only reason for the question marks on a Taiwanese BL is because the word on these BL streets (and his MDL page) is one of the actors works heavily in China, so this might be the reason this one has been was in limbo even though filming finished earlier this year, but the socials are still posting it's coming this year.

See Your Love (Filming Complete)

This co-production with Japan is about a rich man who falls in love with his hearing-impaired caregiver. It finished filming at the end of May and will have those sweet sweet Taiwanese BL cameos from some Be Loved in House: I Do and Plus and Minus folks PLUS it will be the first cameos for the Kiseki: Dear to Me guys since the company that produced their show is the same one for this show.

Impression of Youth (Filming Complete)

Very little is known about the plot of this teacher-student romance, but it comes from the same folks who produced DNA Says Love You and one of the mains, Muji Hsu, was also the lead in 2020's Because of You. Filming finished at the end of May, and the company stated it would be out before the end of the year.

Islanders (late 2024/early 2025)

This is based on a novel, Islands, by Lolita Hu, features some well known Taiwanese actors, and for a bit was under the name Sea of Intimacy. It's being presented as an 'older BL' but the MDL summary is sparse of the BL-plot: Hung, a successful entrepreneur, has three intimate relationships: his wife, his mistress, and his girlfriend. The lives of these individuals in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s are intertwined because of romance, but their story extends beyond that. When Hung faces criticism on social media and loses everything, the way they react tells us how they see the world.

Wishing Upon the Shooting Star & The Young Gangster (2025)

These two deal with completely different plots but are together because of one reason: Ray Jiang. He is the director for these two and was the director for Unknown, My Tooth Your Love, and We Best Love. The companies behind them have stated the series are coming next year, but the guess is Ray's busy schedule is part of the hold up since he has a Netflix series in the works and apparently a film featuring Sam Lin (We Best Love) on the way. The Young Gangster is based on a novel and deals with a research assistant gathering information on the mafia (and we know how the mafia works in BLs), while Shooting Star deals with a man wishing that nobody notices him once he returns to his hometown after being fired. The wish backfires and nobody recognizes him, not even his dad or the boy he confessed to in high school! BL Mafia, Sideways Wishes, and Ray Ray are my favorite types of snacks!

Pray in Love (2025?)

A police officer falls in love with a man only to realize that man is the son of a prominent leader on the day of his arranged wedding in which he was hired as security for the event. The series already released a short film of the basic premise for fundraising efforts and festival rounds. Apparently, filming has started on the series, but there is no concrete confirmation from the production company.

Eternal Butler (2025)

Edited to add thanks to @cankersoregirl! This is a sequel to VBL's Anti Reset and began filming in early July. It focuses on Ever 4 who is sent to be a bodyguard for a young rich man only to encounter a rebellious man.

That Year, 162 Rainfalls (In Production?)

Is this a movie? Is it a series? Is it happening?! Who knows, but last year, it finally got funding and a director attached to it, but the real kicker is Lin Pei Yu is the screenwriter, and she is the writer behind all of my favorite Taiwanese BLs: We Best Love, HIStory 3: Trapped, My Tooth Your Love, Kiseki: Dear to Me, and so much more. Basically, the company struck gold getting her for this story about two archers and best friends. One gets confessed to but admits he actually is in love with his best friend, but before love can happen, the best friend has an accident and falls into a coma. It is based on a novel of the same name, and the plot is way more hefty than this, but I know Lin Pei Yu will make it work!

Four Seasons (Pre, Pre, PRE-Production?)

This is supposed to be four different stories focusing on different seasons, and is rumored to be VBL's next group of shows since the company has stated it wants to continue its formula from last year of releasing slightly connected shows. VBL/Vidol was behind Stay by My Side, VIP Only, You Are Mine, and Anti Reset. Winter is about a scrooge CEO and a florist who is hired to decorate for the CEO's Christmas event. Spring is about two boys meeting on a bus and falling in love over music. Summer is about a market owner and a chef falling in love over food. Autumn is about two former best friends seeing each other ten years after graduating and exploring their hometown together.

Connecting to You (Pre-Production?)

It seems to have gotten funding, but it's been quiet since which isn't surprising because when it comes to Taiwanese BLs, nothing is really heard until filming begins or even after it ends. I still have my hopes high because this is *THE* BL for me as it deals with a man who can see colored threads connecting people and one day runs into a policeman whose thread connects to him. The thread between them begins to change color, from silver-grey to yellow, representing friendship, and even to red, representing love. If I have to sell an organ or two to fund this myself, I. Will. Do. It. I NEED THIS!

And this wouldn't be a Petty Post if I didn't include this final one:

HIStory 15: Freed (GIVE IT TO ME!)

I don't care if this a long shot. I don't care if I seem crazy always asking for this. I. Deserve. It. HIStory 3: Trapped ended with our best mafia boy in prison, and it's time he got out! The HIStory franchise has not had a series since 2022's HIStory 5: Love in the Future, and although there have been rumors that a HERstory story might be next, I think bringing back a popular story would be just as good. I will ask for this every chance I can until I get it, and I plan on living a long life, so I got time!

[shinakazami1]

For the past two months with a lot of breaks here and there I worked on this Rhys comic as a passion project. I feel I could change sth about the speech bubbles but I'm too tired atp OIFSHIOASFOI But - I'm proud of the arts and want to show off wheuuheeu >:) Hope you will like it!

[jazzitos]

♥︎ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ 👶🏻📺 ❀ 童顔 Meu Amor

eu te prometo a cada momento

te ✧ fazer feliz ✧

[xiaobaosnoona]

.

[becauseimanicequeen]

I used to do a lot of research in flora and fauna symbolism a couple of years ago for different projects. So, when I saw that blue hydrangea in the intro...

In Tew's mom's hair...

And outside her house...

I instantly linked it to an expression of regret or an apology (at least that's what it symbolizes, among other things, in Japan). Whether Tew's mom wanted Kan to put it in her hair or if Kan chose to do it himself (or the nurse who seems to know what's going on and might have been the one who did Tew's mom's hair), remains to be seen.

However, blue hydrangeas are also associated with forgiveness. So, I wouldn't be surprised if that theme shows up in the series, too. Especially considering the hydrangeas were a part of the intro (which was stunning, btw, and included several other details that I will obsess over in a separate post when I can find the time to do so).

I'm already in love with this show and I can't wait to see more.

[hotasfahrenheit]

flowers? in my vampire show? it's more likely than you think

(i mean there is a florist character so it's not THAT unlikely but i needed a title)

first off-

that's limonium, which is notoriously stinky, so my takeaway is that vampires are stinky and i'm not going to let anyone change my mind on that~

for the actual arrangement-

we've got three roses, surrounded by a bunch of what we call filler flowers- limonium, statice, and baby's breath.

roses are classic, everyone knows and loves roses. they usually represent things like love and romance, but they can also represent secrecy and mysticism. pink roses specifically tend to represent gratitude and admiration. i'm not gonna include a picture of roses, y'all know what they are.

what i'm referring to as limonium in this arrangement is actually specifically caspia, a delicate, cloudy variety of limonium that is associated with grace, perservereance, and transformation. it uh. well at my shop it's also known as "cat's-pee-ah" because it smells like cat pee to a lot of people. i don't think it smells quite like cat pee, but it does smell -terrible-. i made one of our newer girls smell it a few weeks ago and her response was an offended, betrayed look and a "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME??!?!?" yelled across the room. (i just laughed in response, obviously)

it comes in white and light purple- we use it most often in the purple colour- and it's very pretty and fills space in nicely. but yeah it stinks, it's best to mix it into bouquets or arrangements that have a stronger scent, like putting it with stock flowers, lilies, etc. (picture borrowed from here!)

statice (pronounced just like status and i didn't realise that it was not the same word at first because english is just Like That so often) is actually a variety of limonium and made searching for info for this post just... so great and easy! hah. statice is very common in its very vibrant bright purple variety, but also comes in a variety of colours that i like much better honestly sorry not sorry

statice stands for fond memories, sympathy and success according to the info i could find that distinguished it from caspia limonium. it can look almost fake or papery in the more vibrant colours, and has a kind of dry seeming texture even when it's fresh. the stems are MUCH thicker than caspia and the flowers are bigger and more clumped together, so they're easy to tell apart. (purple statice picture from here, the colourful picture i had on my computer already and when i tried to backtrack search it, it's in use ALL OVER THE PLACE so i can't credit that one accurately)

then we come to the baby's breath. sigh. what can i say about baby's breath without going on a rant about how much most florists actually passionately hate baby's breath? it's terrible. it breaks constantly. it's difficult to pull apart bunches without making a mess. the flowers get nasty when they start to go bad. it also smells, tho not as badly as limonium. adding it into arrangements makes me feel like i'm ruining them. it's terrible! but people love it? people who don't have to deal with it the way that florists do! anyway my fun facts about baby's breath are that it looks like teeny tiny carnations because it's in the carnation family, and the scientific name is gypsophila because when it was named, it was growing in a region with a lot of gypsum rocks in Türkiye so they were like "wow this flower sure loves gypsum!" and there you go. it's supposed to represent undying love and romance so the undying thing works well for vampires I GUESS.

the nice thing with all of these filler flowers is that they dry pretty well and pretty easily. roses can also be dried, obviously, but dried roses alter pretty noticably from their fresh state, while dried statice especially will look pretty similar to fresh depending on the colour. the best way to dry any flowers is to hang them upside down in a warm, dry location- you can get better tips by searching for them on the internet, but that's the main thing. hanging something like roses upside down is especially important, as the heavy heads will bend the stems if they're left to dry while upright in a vase. once the stem is dry and the moisture has left the petals in the flower head, they can be arranged upright again without worrying about the stems bending anymore. if you want to dry limonium, statice, or baby's breath for use in a mixed dried flower arrangement, i would recommend separating and hanging stems individually instead of drying them bunched together, as pulling the dry flowers apart will increase the likelihood of knocking dried blossoms off of the stems.

anyway there you go, your periodic edition of flowers maybe having meaning in BL shows, from your friendly neighbourhood florist. you can check the mia talks about flower things tag below for the other posts i've made about flowers in dramas so far.

until next time! 🌸🌼🌹

[dreamerdrop]

Dreamy Cute Lower Decks Garashir Edits.

[babybison]

Tai is trying his best for you. You should try your best too.

[onlyrainbowshipstbh]

Daou and Offroad via Insta!

[kisilko]

Pond Naravit, Phuwin Tangsakyuen