Sorry - dog emergency called me away from the computer.

The flower looks like a dogwood with a Gem in it. If it is meant to be a normal dogwood flower then it is dumb for Rose to be mourning this 'death' because it isn't dying (and they don't wilt very quickly either). If it is a special Gem thing and it is dying, then Greg's attitude explaining the situation to Rose is totally cringeworthy 'humansplaining.'

I cringe because I use that patronizing tone all the time and it is just AWFUL. So this is also one of those instances where I am completely hard on this artists version of Greg because he is doing something I do all the time and hate in myself. (It isn't something the actual Greg does. He isn't a tone deaf, arrogant know-it-all and would never 'well yeah-' somebody over the phrase 'it's dying.')

The tone that Greg takes telling Rose 'how it is' and her innocent teary acceptance of his wisdom is not meant to be ironic (she is not crying because he is short lived and doesn't know a thing about Gembloom deaths or the rate that flowers wilt and fade according to color intensity and that is sad. She is crying because he is like a pretty and bright blossom who will fade soon himself and that is sad...and maybe a little creepy since he also has that kid-Greg thing going...)

The message of the piece really is that she is that dumb and he is that smart and we are supposed to be genuinely moved that he taught her this valuable lesson about life using a moment with a flower as an opportunity for instruction.

She clearly doesn't understand what it is like to die or how mammals work - but Rose knows plants and Gems. So this Marilyn Monroe style moment of childlike simplicity from her is just stupid.