Wow, Hostanista, what a treat to find such a fun idea dropped on us this chilly day!

Not being personally from anyplace cold and icy, is this something that everyone does, like everyone makes a snow angel, do they make ICE BALLS TOO? And why, if they do, have I never heard of such an exciting decorative tradition, every bit as grand and edifying as a Snow Angel? Hmmmm, if it isn't a tradition before, I bet it is now!

Very beautiful.

Hmmmm, you could get the basketball sized Norwegian bouys and hang them on the trees, would ice cover those up too?

Thanks for the chance to play in the snow.

No Moc, it's no tradition I've ever seen before. I just came across it on the internet a few weeks ago so I thought I'd give it a try. I posted it on my Facebook page and none of my friends had ever seen it before either. They could be color-coordinated with matching Christmas lights - a mix of blues and greens would be awesome, or maybe all reds. Fun idea!

Such a "Kool"( was my maiden name lol) idea and would sure brighten up the hosta sites for the white winter months.

Yes, you are both right.
Plus, if there was a competition or a garden club decoration project, doing the whole street with these ice balls would be neat!

I read somewhere they have an ice hotel you can rent a room in for $400 a night. The bed is ice too. Walls carved or built of big ice blocks in varying colors. Maybe it was lighting, but it sure looked like colored ice too. Brrrrrrrr.

I will enjoy the PICTURES after someone else does the cold weather part of it. Hostanista, I think you have a really good beginning to an idea worth exploring further.

I can't say as I've ever seen that in these parts. Interesting idea.
I might limit their placement to keep the color from bleeding onto the pavement as they melt just to avoid it looking like a crime scene. lol. Might make for interesting art on the snow, though. Please let us know.

tj

Fun! That's a way to get some color during these dull months. Between the Christmas lights coming down and the spring bulbs coming up, there's a long stretch of boring. I'd get a kick out of this if I saw these on a neighbor's lawn. You did a good job of getting saturated colors. I'm also curious about what they'll look like when they melt. I hope no big snow will cover them up completely. Keep us posted.

I read somewhere they have an ice hotel you can rent a room in for $400 a night.

==>>

ONLY someone in z9.. would want think this is cool.. crimminey.. i have been listening to money run thru my fingers for a week now.. via the furnace.. with single digit nights.. and glorious 20 degree [plus wind] days ..

and you want to go sleep in a freezer..

whats wrong with your head ...

as for the balloons... will get the kids working on that today.. as of 8:02 am.. she is ready to get to work on them ...

ken

nista,

I bet if you stacked them in a tree shape they would make a great Christmas tree decoration.....lights on it (!!!) would make it spectacular.

Jon

We had a night of -11 dgrs., whenever I woke up the registers were hot, and this is with a well-insulated house. We have long icicles hanging from some roofs. Every morning kids waiting for the school bus dump big chunks of snow on the driveway, and I then clean up afterwards. I vote to have winter end right now!
In respect to hostas, with green, blue and yellow color you could simulate hostas. In the mean time 100 to 200 hosta seedlings enjoy 24 hr light in my basement.
Bernd

There was a little bleeding today (it's only 0 degrees Celsius - that's 32F in American!) and I see a small trickle of blue on the snow from Ice Ball #1. It's only vegetable based food coloring and washes off your hands after a couple of good scrubbings so I don't expect it will do any permanent harm to stones or walkway.

Jon - LOVE your idea of stacking them in a Christmas tree shape!

Now, now, Ken, don't go jumping to conclusions there. I was impressed with the originality of the entrepeneurs who created the Ice Palace. But lend my support to such a cold spot? It is not in my nature to seek to feel COLD. Just comfy enough to avoid intense heat, you know a glass of sweet tea and maybe a gin/tonic on a summer evening.

The problem with creating a tree from the ice balls is lifting them in place. Don't they have to freeze while in a solitary position? Some of those big guys could easily weight up to 100 pounds I estimate. Maybe freezing them while on the back of a pick up truck, you could use an oil barrel hoist to raise them a couple of layers high without breaking your back.....but that is mere logistics. I'm thinking it easier to find a nice steep slope visible from below, and then having them positioned like bowling pins 4-3-2-1 ......with a big bow at the top, and garlands of tinsel or greenery woven in the mass.

The next great fad is being created right here in "rivercity", meaning the Hosta Forum. Look for it at your neighborhood big box store, because someone will make a KIT out of it.

Moc, maybe the angle of my photo threw you off a bit!? The ice balls are only the size of a typical balloon - they are smaller than a bowling ball, and probably only weigh a couple or 3 pounds each. They'd be easy enough to stack. And I think I'd only stack them about 4 feet high to make little trees!

Here's another picture to better show their actual size - I placed them on the top stone of a raised planter next to my front walkway.

What a fabulous idea - until the next snowfall sadly covers them up! I may try this some lazy day - I think I have some balloons, and we certainly have freezing temperatures. How clever.
Jan

nista,

If you had, or could find, some tomato cages to use as a foundation for a Christmas tree you might be able to get some size without having so many frozen balls. It would probably be more stable as well (???)

I can't wait to see the pictures!

Jon

Hostnista what a beauty of a log timber house and right down to the shutters and stone walks. Would love to see more house pictures as it looks so cozy and I can imagine it with a roaring wood fire going to keep the winter months warm and comfy

They look like candy to me. Yum!

-Babka

...or maybe just build a snow cone foundation :o

Jon,
I did use my old tomato cage for another project this winter! Pine cones galore all over my property - I turned the tomato cage upside down, slipped one leg of old pantyhose over it (I'm retired, I never wear panty hose any more, yay!) then hot-glued the cones all over it. It's on my front porch and hasn't been knocked over by wind yet.

And you're absolutely right Babka, they DO look like candy!

@almosthooked: Thanks! We love our 150-year-old log house. The inside is more post & beam than "log". No fireplace per se, but a big red wood burning stove in the kitchen, and a gas fired one in the family room. They're both tucked into the chimney brest, which I guess must have been the original fireplace way back when.

Oh good grief! I was seeing things like the big buoys which were used by fishermen, Norwegian buoys we called them. And the type of balloon that kids use to bounce on, with a tether. Oh my, well, my imagination often gets the best of me.
hehehehe

Your pine cones are closed, and they are different from the ones we have. Big ole cones which open up and they are at the base 5 or 6 inches diameter, And about 10 inches tall. Great cones to slather with peanut butter for the wild critters. I do not have a pine tree any longer, we cut them all down, but across the street a neighbor has two of those big cone pines.

Don't you love the sound of wind in the pines?

I love those ice balls! If we ever get snow this year (yes, hoping, hoping and keeping fingers crossed), I am going to be sure to have balloons on and to do the same for our neighbor's little girl as a morning surprise!

I am also green with envy over your stone steps!

"A pint a pound the world around for water, milk and eggs". That's a limerick that we used in chef school. So, 1 gallon of water would weigh 8 lbs.

bkay

Neat saying there, BKay. Thanks.

In my mind, those balloons were huge, like bigger than the ones they fill with helium, and slightly smaller than a weather balloon. More like 5 gallon, which would make 40 pounds. And awkward to pick up, I'd bet.

@cyn427:
Make sure you give yourself enough time so they freeze - overnight probably won't do it. Mine took at least 5 days even when temps hit below freezing every day. Turn them over every day too so they freeze evenly. If they are sitting in snow you'll find the top of the balloon frozen but the bottom still liquid.

I am going to try that. They may not last long here but look like fun. Paula

@ilovetogrow - Paula:
..."They may not last long here..."
in FLORIDA?? You're not kidding!!! How are you going to do that? Freeze them in a deep freezer? Be careful, the balloons can tear apart easily and if that happens before the ice balls are completely frozen, you'll have blue/red/green/yellow dye leaking out all over your frozen T-Bones! Good luck with that!

Paula - there are some things that we wannabe snowbirds in Ontario hope to never see in Florida. Ice balls would be one, along with snow men. Just enjoy your sunshine and oranges and leave us our strange winter distractions! lol
Jan

Good one, Jan!

Oh yea!!! That is pretty much what you guys said about hosta growing in the south and I am still here. I did think I may freeze one in the freezer just to amuse my son. And just for your info it was 40 deg this morning. lol loving it warm Paula

we went small.. water balloon size..

this morn.. we were well on our way to success..

this afternoon.. it was 33 .. well on our way to NOT success ..

they are still there.. who knows what tomorrow will bring.. but they are saying 40's for a few days ... so i suspect our failure will continue ...

ken

I'm picturing a pyramid of mid sized balls stacked in my (frozen) birdbath. One of these days - it is certainly cold enough! (Careful about recording those temps Paula - some frozen northerners may appear on your doorstep!)
Jan

It is 11:30 more or less here, and the temp is 46. Paula and I are about 450 miles apart with I-10 stringing us together, our latitude approximately the same. She probably has ocean breezes, I have bay and river breezes.

And right now, we have a drizzling gray day. Last time it snowed was Christmas 1997 here. Just a sprinkling dab. But I do not complain.

I have no problem with winter in my yard. I have colorful dwarf conifers showing off between the snow. Smaller ones might be covered with snow, but the larger of those are improving the wintery landscape tremendously every year. This way I can wait until spring.
Bernd

Someone has been on Pinterest.com Hostanista!!!!!!

I've been waiting for my daughter to come over, so that I can show her the ice balls. She's just moved into her first home. Her yard contains a lonesome deciduous (sp?) tree.

The evergreen boughs in MY back yard are almost touching the ground because they are so heavy with snow. I'm glad we're getting more snow this year than last as that will mean more water for our trees and hostas come spring. YEH! Planning to vacation away from it though. Moccasin, here I come.

YeeeHAAAAAA! As they say, Irawon, COME ON DOWN.

Along the central Gulf Coast has been the Ontario Snow Birds for the last 40 years that I know of, from Panama City all the way to Gulf Shores Alabama. They even broadcast Canadian weather on the local radio so you know exactly what you are missing.

You'll have a good time. Promise!

So , if you are really tired of winter and want to keep freezing colored water, try making an Igloo. It was built by a couple in Edmonton Alberta and if you need to know how to build it there is instructions as to how to go about it. I just typed incolored igloo and it came up. Could be the hit of the neighborhood!

One more picture. I guess the blocks are froze in milk cartons. Every grandchilds dream

I've been to Edmonton a couple of times. It is the only time I had a rental car with a plug in the grill to run the block heater.

The igloos should last until May unless the lights are left on too long.

I LOVE this thread: I just have nothing to contribute. I live in a 'black hole' of weather. We FINALLY had night-time lows to make ice, but daytime highs in the mid-30s. Our winter classic pond hockey tourney went well. But with no snow - yet - I am in real 'blues'. Too cold for hostas and too warm for snow, and in zone 5 of all places. The Noopiming Garden, named in respect for the Ojibway people and all Anishinabeg, the deep north woods, is snowless.
I view this thread as welcomed as the hosta alphabet series: something clherished but not attained!
Theresa :( made :)!

yep here is a link. they are all around the world....ICE HOTELS...

Here is a link that might be useful: ice hotel Quebec