Flora and Fauna XI – Ladybugs

Posted on May 16, 2018 by vanbraman

Tonight I am going to bring back an old series. Here is post number eleven in my Flora and Fauna series. The last time I made a post in this series was in 2015 with Flora and Fauna X – Jena.

roses, ladybug, ladybugs, pest controlOn Monday I released some ladybugs into my rose garden. See: Time for Ladybugs

This morning I took some pictures of the ladybugs on the roses bushes.

Unfortunately, I have a lot of mildew on my Tropicana rose bush. However, this is fairly common for some old hybrid tea roses.

roses, ladybug, ladybugs, pest controlI am not sure why they are seem to like the dead and dying leaves of the rose bush. Perhaps they were full of aphids and they had a feast.

roses, ladybug, ladybugs, pest controlIt was fun trying to find the ladybugs. I would look intently trying to find them and then would all of a sudden seem to see them everywhere.

roses, ladybug, ladybugs, pest controlHere a ladybug is at the center of a spent rose bloom. It made for an interesting picture.

roses, ladybug, ladybugs, pest controlHere a ladybug is on a very dirty leaf. There seems to be debris all over it. Some of it is bits of blossoms left from the trees that are in the front yard, but I am not sure what the little black specks are. I am actually going to have to be a bit careful doing any pruning over the next couple weeks as I watch out for ladybug eggs. I have see a few ladybug larvae on the rose bushes so I know I at least had some ladybugs around before releasing the ones on Monday.

Tonight I released the rest of the ladybugs that I had bought. It looks like the first group has established itself pretty good and has been hard at work. I can already see a difference in the number of aphids in some areas.

Steven

Posted in Animals, California, Flowers, Nature, Yard Work | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Milk Oolong?

Posted on May 15, 2018 by vanbraman

While in Canada back in March I bought some tea while we were out sightseeing on the last day. See: Friday in Toronto

Milk oolong, Tuesday Tea, Tea Towel, Oolong teaI have tried the tea a few times, but have not yet written about it. This is partly as I am not sure exactly what the tea is.

There is actually quite some controversy about Milk Oolong. There is a particular type of tea called Jin Xuan which is commonly referred to as Milk Oolong. This tea was created in the early 80’s and has a thick creamy texture that is similar to that of milk.

However, I am sure that the tea that I bought is not true Milk Oolong.

Instead there are many imitations where flavoring or other additives are added to tea leaves to create a milky taste. I believe that this is one of them.

Milk Oolong, Imitation, tea leaves, Oolong teaThe tea leaves do have a milky smell to them, and it was what drew me to this tea when I was in the store. The store that I bought it at is setup similar to an antique mall where there are small booths where vendors sell different items.

I saw that there was a website listed on the package and planned on visiting it later to find out more about the tea. However, the domain was non-existent and web searches did not find anything. This is not the first time I have acquired tea that has a web site listed that doesn’t exist. I think I need to check the website first and not later 🙂

It could be that the website had to be taken down due to the fact that the name is very similar to another tea company.

Infuser, tea leaves, Milk Oolong, Fake Milk OolongHere you can see that the leaves have opened up as the tea infused.

Tea Leaves, Milk oolong?, infuserHere are the leaves after draining off the water. I compared the look of these leaves to ones that I found pictures of for Jim Xuan tea. To me they look very different.

Tea Dust, Milk Oolong, Oolong tea, Fake Milk Oolong?I had a bit of difficulty getting this picture because of the steam coming off of the tea. However, you see a nice buttery color for the tea. You also see a lot of small particles in the bottom of the cup. This is not normal with a high quality oolong tea. You may see a few, but not this much.

The tea itself has a milky or creamy flavor with some fruity tastes as well. This fits what a milk oolong should have. However, the milky taste quickly goes away with later infusions and you are left with just the taste of a lightly oxidized oolong. The particles and dust also go away with the later infusions. This is normal, but it seems that the small particles and dust have all the flavor which is not normal.

My verdict. A good tasting tea, but not a true milk oolong. It is a good thing I didn’t pay too much for it. That would have been a clue if I had known more about milk oolong at that time.

Now to find a true milk oolong to try.

Steven

 

Posted in Canada, Food, Tea | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment