Clearly the tight balls on the Lake County web site are the result of close shearing and not how the plant grows on its own. Those I have seen here were fluffy pyramidal juvenile foliage forms; I am not surprised to hear about this falling over or splaying open, in the manner of similar forms of other species. That's too bad as it is rather appealing looking otherwise - in garden center sizes anyway. It isn't a matter of 'Bobazam' being a "correct" name and Mr. Bowling Ball then being therefore incorrect. The two names are instead two different things, Mr. Bowling Ball being a registered trademark used to sell the 'Bobazam' cultivar. During these days of large production nurseries in particular using trademarks and patents to assure profits being made on their plant introductions this combination of a memorable selling name (as these are called in Britain) and a jawbreaker cultivar name is common. Often the cultivar names in these instances are combinations of syllables that actually convey information, in this case the cultivar name surely stands for 'Bowling ball zam'pini - the last being the name of the principal of Lake County nursery. Here is a link that might be useful: [Mr. Bowling Ball] = 'Bobazam' Fact Sheet from Lake County nursery This post was edited by bboy on Fri, Aug 1, 14 at 22:34

Hi DaNita, I'm usually hanging out in the "Garden Junk" (GJ)forum but like to check in on this one also. Nothing says you have to grout your BB, that's up to you. There are a lot of folks in the GJ forum who do mosaics and they prepare their own grout by mixing it. For the styrofoam ball I did with the half-marbles, I did grout it using a premixed grout I got at Home Depot. It was $7 something for a small purchase but since it was my first project using the grout and didn't really know what to expect, I went with the premixed stuff. I used the clear liquid nails also. In the GJ forum, a lot use GE Silicone Glue II as a glue. I bought some of that also and it is fantastic. I've read the liquid nails doesn't hold up to the elements but mine did just fine this past late summer/early autumn. Mine isn't sealed yet (it will crackle) so I did bring it in during nasty weather because my porch does not have a roof. I also read in the GJ forum that after grouting the BB, they seal it with grout sealer. Check Home Depot or similar store for that stuff also. Go to a hardware store or just call them and ask what to use, I'm sure they'll be very helpful. As for your question - does the glue have to be clear, that's up to you. I used clear because I didn't want a white spot to show up through the clear glass half-marbles I used. My project was with teal (???) marbles (if that's the color you want to call it) but you can see through them so that's what I meant by "clear glass..." Those who mosaic in GJ forum do color their grout when mixing it up by adding acrylic paint to it. I guess it all depends on how you want your project to look. Check out the GJ forum, I'm sure you'll love it, and do a search for "bowling balls." You'll get a ton of posts picked out for your by the website. Pic of my project attached, I used the base of a lamp for the holder. I thought the white looked good on the teal color. Sal Here is a link that might be useful:

that is good advice. at the time i was being lazy and i knew i should outline the geckos first before doing the triangle thing. but i didnt. i think that would have been a better idea to place the dark next to light like you said with an outline. too bad i didnt ask you. i have found that i could probably teach this class i am taking and sometimes i should follow my own gut feeling. I wish i hadnt done that dark grout. I also should have done 2 geckos with the same color. great suggestion to use the colory wheel theory. oh well, it looks ok, good enough to give to the school auction which is next week. it looks better from far away. and squinting. Ha HA like i said i like the swirly ball better, so i am keeping that one. by the way, i thought the sealer was to weatherproof the work

Image by: Garden Junk Forum Members Bowling Balls Here's the third page in the series :)