Gardens and Gazing Balls

I was never big on junk that got in the way of gardening. I was also very lerry of anything I thought would take my children about 3.2 seconds to find and break, so therefore, gazing balls were out of the question.

What's not to like about something reflecting all the hard work you've given to your garden whether it's flowers or vegetables or a combination?

I didn't get my first ones until my children became teenagers and more interested in things that didn't involve building secret hide-a-ways, turning any object into my yard into "pirate treasure" and just deciding any and everything not to heavy to move made good playthings.

My late husband purchased me a beautiful large blue and green one with swirls of glow in the dark glass mixed in. Then two smaller ones that matched the first and had stands to make them look like Saturn. Then a handful of hose stakes and one beautiful silver one that I couldn't put outside.

Of those, the silver one and hose stakes are all I have left. A combination of children and weather killed off the others. So, in wandering the web, I found garden balls that neither my children nor mother nature should be able to kill.

This is the first of my new garden balls. I am in the process of covering it with flat-backed glass bits in shades of blue, green and clear and in 2 sizes. The main ball is a bowling ball I've painted sky blue. I've been working on this for about a week a bit here and there.

I can't wait to find this a home in my yard that I can see from one of my windows. I'm thinking of finding it a home outside my kitchen window.

The glass rocks come from Dollar Tree. I bought the smaller ones last fall to fill vases to hold bouquets for my wedding. Two bags of stones and a vase where much cheaper than buying bouquet holders that clipped to the table. They could also be reused down the road.

I'm using Weld-Bond to glue my stones to my bowling ball. Then I'm using painter's or Frog tape to hold them in place for 24 hours, until the glue really begins to set. Unfortunately, I will now have to go get 2 more bags of large stones. I bought 3 initially, but failed to realize one was solid turquoise.

The nice part of the tape is that I can just pull the pieces off and set them on the table, glue in the new layer and re-use the same tape to hold the next round of pieces in places. I'm just over half the ball around. I'm already planning my next one. The next base is in the car, ready to go down to the basement and get washed, base painted and then brought upstairs for a layer of copper paint. Then I'm going to decide if I like just the paint or want to add brand-new, shiny pennies.

I think I'm ready for spring ... adding beading, sequins and ribbonwork flowers to my new top. I'm ready to start moving flowers and hostas from one house to another and arranging garden art. And, then I need some pansies, dusty miller and rhubarb!

Laura