I vote for the more purpley/blue version because I love purple and I think its color would match your flower types that you noted. Of course, if you wanted the ball to stand out, the more golden yellow one would be the best bet.

Here are pictures of my gazing balls.

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Although not technically gazing balls because they don't reflect, but the same general effect.

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I vote purple or blueish.. I have three purple or blue ones..NO pictures quickly tho...and I LOVE THEM...carefully placing them adds to the charm...I love love love to see the whole garden in such a tiny spot...they also make great PHOTO OPS...not of the ball itself..but of the view you see THRU the ball.. Silver ones, tho not so pretty visually as the colored ones give a "real mirror kind of view of your garden" I am a fan, they remind me of my grandma..growing up I thought her glass ball was some secret kind of power only grandmas held....

I like the second one!

I'm not a big fan of gold, so the purple-ish one stands out for me. I think it would go better with the flowers you mentioned and blend in nicely with a garden.

I never used to be a fan of them, but recently I've considered getting one. They come in such pretty colors.

Nkville - the second picture of yours, is it a mystic gazing ball? I love that one, and i think its what i want. The second picture i posted is called mystic, but i wonder if they have enhanced it.
I think once i posted the 2 near eachother i realized the purple looking one is the one for me! It looks like an exotic storm brewing of colors.
Scully, i have been pondering them all winter, tying to convince my dh i had to have one! He also isnt a fan, he says they dont look natural. But by his pond is a hideously overweight buddha , that dosnt look natural to me!! lol
Keisha , i agree, they do look kinda secret powerish! :)

I also think the blue-ish one would look good since the color scheme of your flowers would fit with it. The gold one might not look to bad in a hot colored bed though, with oranges, yellows, and reds.

Though perhaps I am not the best person to comment since I am not a huge fan of gazing balls- at least in my garden ;-)

Something similar to a gazing ball (but not so shiny, lol) that I have been wanting for a long time is a stone/concrete sphere! {{gwi:66417}}
CMK

Ooo, CMK, those stone spheres are neat. They look very ancient. Like they belong near Stonehenge or on Easter Island or something. I've never seen them. Are they expensive?

Another vote for the blue-purplish, but I wouldn't be saying no to any of the others if they were offered to me, they're all lovely.

Annette

-scully, have only priced a few of them (and was scared off, lol). Most seem to be at least a hundred bucks, but often more. I imagine size and material have a lot to do with cost as well. It will be much more if made from stone instead of concrete! If you google 'garden sphere images' or something similar you will see a lot of neat ones. I might try making my own this year. I could get a mold to pour concrete in or maybe just form it around a bowling ball.
CMK

I like the 2nd one with the color scheme you describe, but in the second picture, with the red plant in the background I think the gold would be beautiful with that. Just like CMK said that the gold may be nice with hot colors. And I laughed out loud at your comment about the buddha!

Nckville- did you make the last 2 balls in your pictures? They are very cool.

Lilyfinch I am not sure if the second one I posted is a mystic gazing ball or not. I am not sure what makes one a mystic ball. Is it a brand name or something? I don't remember if it had such a label on the ball when I purchased it at a local nursery several years ago.

Thyme2dig, yes the last two were made by myself. Both are bowling balls I got for free at the local bowling alley. They often have balls that they are discarding so ask around and see if you can find any. The first one was made by siliconing flat irridescent marbles onto a purple bowling ball. The second was made by siliconing pennies in several layers onto a bowling ball. The verdigris patina was done by spraying the pennies once attached with a strong solution of Peters Plant Food and allowing the ball to sit inside for two weeks. It was then placed outside and the coloration has remained on since the original application about 5 years ago.

The concrete spheres look very cool. If I can figure out how to make a mold, I think they would be easily made with hypertufa that you would use to make troughs. If you could find a half mold, you could always make two parts and silicone the parts together. I am going to have to think about this type of project.

Although not a gazing ball, another hypertufa project I have planned is something along the lines of what is pictured in the following links from the hypertufa forum. Too many projects not enough time! LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: Hypertufa Ball

I like the second one, too.

Also, love that link nckvilledudes (Kernersville? I lived in Winston-Salem during and after college-love NC). I may actually attempt to make one of those spheres this spring-very cool.

I vote for the purple, or dark lavender, one...of course :)

Ok everyone!!! I guess its settled, purple it is! Thanks for giving me the push i needed, i cant make up my mind sometimes.
Now i have to find a stand....

Cyn, yep live here in the big Kernersville in between Winston-Salem and Greensboro--sometimes affectionately known as K-vegas! LOL

Lily, the purplish one would be my choice also so glad you've decided that.

nckvilledudes, love all your garden decor - I'm one who likes a lot of decorative stuff in my garden. Had about 20 glass garden totems last year! LOL The Garden Junk forum is a fav of mine. To each their own, gardens are a wonderful creative outlet.

Here is a link that might be useful: a few of my glass garden totems

I envy that you have so much choices. I hardly see gazing balls over here. I must be looking in all the wrong places. Where do you normally get these?
BTW I like the blue colours. & I also like the blue purple. Why not group a few together with different shades but of the same hues?

Nckville, i was searching for globes on amazon, the secound globes color name was mystic. I thought maybe you ordered yours! lol
Luckygal, thanks for posting those pictures! Your garden is beautiful, and i love the irises and totems! I kinda lurk at the garden junk forum, i love the ideas over there. I actually got the perfect bowl and base for a little glass base at a thrift store the other day, im excited to put it together!
Ianna, i have been searching on amazon for a gazing ball, as locally i havent seen much but ill search around once more before i order!
CMK, i forgot to post earlier that those spheres are really neat!

CMK - A hundred bucks for a glob of concrete?! Geesh. I was just thinking of trying to make one. Here's an even cheaper solution... buy bowling balls at Goodwill and get that spray paint that looks like stone. haha.

Somehow the 'ancient-ness' of the spheres is lost here. :-)

Here are my gazing balls: the gold one I have in my sunny south border (my sun garden) but its kind of bright so should have gone with a different color but the only other color was silver and I had already made a silver one for my north facing border (in my supposedly moon garden). I made it from the dogs' ball and glued half marbles on. Here are pics...click on images to enlarge. {{gwi:637493}}{{gwi:637494}}

also here's my hypertufa spheres I made using light globes, which you break when the hypertufa is set.{{gwi:637495}}

Iris, thanks for posting your pictures. Someone on the hypertufa forum suggested using those glass globe light covers as well for molds. How large are your tufa balls and which specific tufa mix did you use to make yours? Depending on the size of the glass globe and the mix you used, I imagine they might be quite heavy unless you used a lot of peat moss and perlite or vermiculite in the mix??

I used the small, medium, & large light globes (only medium & large shown here) that I bought for 50% off when a hardware store was going out of business. They are not that heavy as I did use peat moss & vermiculite, with cement and water of course. Don't have the exact measurements in front of me but I got it from the hypertufa forum. I sprayed inside the globes with Pam first. I had them in the shade garden for awhile and they were growing some moss. (I coated them with yogurt but when our weather gets so hot, moss will not grow.

Mine is similar to one of Nck's. I keep it on the screened porch vs. in the yard. I stuffed it with a string of white lights and plug it in at night.

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