Platycodon?

Thrift - Arrmeria maritima has cute ball-shaped flowers. I used to grow it but got annoyed with having to divide it as the clumps got bigger and started dying out in the center! Deadheading is also a bit fiddly as the plants - and flowers- are so low, and I don't bend so easily now :-)

Globe thistle (Echinops ritro) comes to mind.

I've used a number of the cultivars, but still think the plant I originally purchased at a local horticultural society plant sale puts on the best show. I've assumed it is the species. It's larger and more robust than any of the cultivars. I'd call the bloom colour light blue.

This is it below; July 27, 2010.

Bomb shaped peonies
Drumstick primula
Runuculus
Caspedia
Chrysanthemums
Trollius
Chives
Agapanthus

sanguisorba 'Tanna'
scabious columbaruia and similar knautia macedonica
teasels (dipsacus) - not exactly ball shaped but they certainly have that sculptural aspect
gomphrena

Craspedia has yellow/gold balls.

Here is a link that might be useful: Craspedia

Neat, thanks for the great suggestions, everyone. Lots of things I hadn't considered or wasn't aware of.

SunnyBorders, your globe thistle looks great! I especially like it with the spikey Veronica (I'm assuming that's what it is?) behind it. Reminds me of a combination from a fairy tale witch's garden for some reason. I'm planning to winter sow some Echinops ritro this year, so we'll see how that goes.

Burpee Seed carries an unusual variety of Gomphrena called 'Fireworks' that many people rave about. It has tall stems with pink balls, very unlike the typical Gomphrena. Bustani's, a local specialty nursery that specializes in perennials only, thinks enough of it to make an exception with this one and offers it in spring.

The seeds are fewer in number and somewhat higher in price than the other types Burpee's sells.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://search.aol.com/aol/imageDetails?s_it=imageDetails&q=burpee+seed+gomphrena+fireworks&img=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.burpee.com%2Fimages%2Fproduct%2Fprod000219%2Fprod000219_alt2_lg.jpg&v_t=na&host=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.burpee.com%2Fmobile%2Fproduct%2FmobileProduct.jsp%3Fpid%3Dprod000219&width=128&height=152&thumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fencrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcTAqxWVdzUqXJpOH9tC-LYd8pfapyDxNW8VRhjRJXzE4sJEDcm-m56yzauT%3Awww.burpee.com%2Fimages%2Fproduct%2Fprod000219%2Fprod000219_alt2_lg.jpg&b=image%3Fq%3Db%3DimageResultsBack%26oreq%3D7a6aa4db73014d40bb08e7530091a154&imgHeight=380&imgWidth=322&imgTitle=Gomphrena%2C+Fireworks&imgSize=54099&hostName=www.burpee.com

Aralia 'Sun King' is grown for its gold to chartreuse foliage, but it has round flower heads rather more subtle than those listed above.

The flowers of double bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) might be considered to look round.

Ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is another wildflower with round flower clusters.

Billy balls (Craspedia globosa) are an annual plant (I think) with yellow round flowers.

It's a shrub rather than a perennial, but buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) has round flower clusters. Butterflies love it, and there are some smaller selections that might fit better in a typical yard. They like average to very wet soil.

Another shrub is Fothergilla which has springtime clusters of stamens that are more egg-shaped than round, exactly. My apologies for the blurriness of this photo of F. Mt. Airy.
{{gwi:2120569}}From May 20, 2014

Annabelle hydrangea (H. arborescens) has almost spherical blossom clusters, and you may find if you check other H. arborescens selections that there may be another more rounded than Annabelle.
{{gwi:2120570}}From Hydrangeas

Not actual flowers, but having a similar effect, many clematis have large round seed clusters that cling on for months after the blooms fade. The curved hairy seed tails catch the light in a lovely way. There are also a whole host of other plants with spherical shaped seed pods that are bright and/or hold on for a long time that you might want to think about as well.

Another candidate:

Bought this peony as 'Festiva Maxima' which it is not.
I may actually have been sold two different peonies in the same pot.

Some of the flowers are like this (June 12, 2014).
Bomb-type double peony 'Charles White' would be one possibility.

Eryngium planum 'Blaukappe'

tj

Asclepias incarnata--swamp milkweed. Incredibly fragrant and will help feed the Monarch caterpillars. Plus ball-shaped flowers!

Oh, you asked how I use them...

As something big near a bird feeder that the squirrels won't climb up.

'SB', I planted a "Culver's Root" this past late summer because of your positive experience with this plant.

(Love that Globe Thistle shot...gorgeous).

'TR', I love gomphrena and although I haven't had it in my garden for a few years. Thanks for the reminder. I will search out this particular variety.

(Btw TR, when you PREVIEW MESSAGE you are given the option to neatly insert a Optional Link URL in which you decide on the Name of the Link. I have done an example in this post).

Here is a link that might be useful: Fireworks Gomphrena

Rouge, it's a big plant, but the bees and I love it.

That garden is large.
Think that makes that possible.

rouge, do you mean that you only drag the web address to the optional line and leave the other empty?

I almost ordered these seeds a couple years ago but never did since it was the only thing they had I wanted, at the time Burpee was the only place that carried seed.

I ran across this trial which is helpful in deciding to try it or not. It sounds like a late season performer with a bit of a messy habit.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://xericstyle.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/gomphrena-fireworks-love-affair/

Copy the web address in question and paste it into the first/top space (looks like you did that in your most recent post) and then I enter a relevant short phrase which will serve as the name of the link (and so always shorter than the link address).

Yup. I see several references describing it as messy and sprawly. I might just buy one of the shorter varieties.

rouge, from what I read it would probably sprawl in a wet climate and most likely look messy here during a wet year but be quite well behaved in a dry year. Last summer I opted to plant the smaller compact versions and have scattered seed to have more next year. I don't have space for that big variety to look good.

Verbena bonariensis is a better choice I think and its a perennial here, it has 'ball-type' flowers, sort of. The same basic effect of airiness with ball shaped flowers on top of thin stems that I think the OP is wanting. I have scattered a lot of seed among a new planting of bluestem I ordered from SRG and hope to have a nice contrasting combination next year. I did this after I saw a photo here on GW that I've been trying to locate unsuccessfully showing a nice mass of it planted in front of soft grasses. Its a place in Canada called 'The Farm' (maybe you are familiar with the poster?) I love their gardens.

Success with the link! This was one of those addresses that wraps around the block. Thanks for the instructions. I believe this is the same garden I saw on GW showing the verbena in front of grasses.

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenBuddies

I will buy seeds for a shorter variety of gomphrena for a container or two.

And after seeing a thread or two earlier this fall re Verbena bonariensis I had already decided to buy seeds.

(Look through this thread TR. I think it has the picture you are referencing ie the verbena in front of the grasses).

Here is a link that might be useful: Verbena and grasses

This post was edited by rouge21 on Sat, Dec 20, 14 at 15:50

Yes, thats the one. I immediately went into copy-cat mode after seeing it when the V. bonariensis topic came up last summer on this forum. Isn't that the the greatest form of compliment? This whole thing on ball shaped blooms has now opened up a new train of thought. I am now on a tear for airy see-through plants.

Alliums.

Gilia capitata, blue thimble flower, is a heavily blooming pretty California native annual that fits the bill.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gilia capitata, blue thimble flower

That blue thimble flower reminds me of what we used to call Bachelor Buttons, but those might be a different flower. I loved them when I was a child in Texas but have not seen them recently.

I didn't think Verbena bonariensis would be right for this thread, I don't think I could describe it as ball shaped, but as some have mentioned it, here it is in my garden this summer... they got covered with masses of Tortoiseshell butterflies.. I just managed to capture one as all the others flew off..

Dalea purpura (Purple Prairie Clover) has delicate ovals as opposed to round balls on thin stems. There is also a white version. Its not a real aggressive seeder, seeds need cold stratification.

Detail of Prairie Clover flowers, they slowly bloom up to the top and then leave the texture of the oval all season which start to shatter in late summer. The plants are airy and delicate.

Alliums only mentioned in the 10th on-topic posting!

I'd say Jean001a should take the prize.

(Re "on-topic"; often off-topic myself).
(Sorry AM, you'd already included bomb-type peonies)

Allium 'Purple Sensation' (May 29, 2011).
Maybe a bee, but no corners there.

The OP mentioned alliums on the first post so I figured they had that one already. I planted some seeds I collected, time will tell........ they were a smaller variety than those big flashy mamoo's you posted SB. These unknown's bloomed in early spring.

Apologies to you too, TR (and Arlene, and the next nine contributors)!

Perhaps we should take the prize back?

Closer reading of the first post than me.

I also have other alliums which are less spherical.

SB --Two questions. Do alliums come up easy from seed and are they slow growing like trying to grow bulb type plants from seed which usually take a long time? These weren't fancy and they were growing in a mostly natives garden by a Hispanic church here. I got the feeling they are a native type, not real flashy but sort of funky none the less because of the 'balls'. Most of the plants in this garden looked like either Texas natives or Mexico natives and growing in very hot conditions on the west & south sides of the church surrounded by concrete. I direct sowed the Allium seeds.

Thought of another one; Scabiosa stellata 'Ping Pong'.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scabiosa stellata 'Ping Pong'.

Allium senescens is a nice small one !0" tall approx. The foliage has a really noticeable sheen to it.
Have it with Sedum 'Vera Jameson'----Silver Mound and
Euphorbia myrsinites.

TR, don't know. I haven't used many and have always bought bulbs.

I do remember David Tomlinson talking about his experience with growing a large variety of them from seed. It apparently takes 3 or 4 years.

He was saying that, in England, a lot of alliums have become very difficult to eradicate. I've had some trouble, year-to-year, with vigorous self-seeding by Allium atroviolaceum. It was already in a garden I was working on.

Ooweuy, SB, that looks like the very one. I think maybe I will nip them in the bud if they come up. I've had stuff like that get out of hand and I don't like it enough to have to weed out volunteers popping up all over. I like to never got rid of grape hyacinth and all those bulblets or whatever those tiny multiplying small bulbs are called. Thanks for the heads up.

TR, IME there is a fair amount of variability in behavior of allium seeds depending on the variety. Some like chives grow really readily and are blooming in their second season, but I also have some that have never seeded around at all. Perhaps they are sterile. Some of my large bulbed alliums have taken two years to get to blooming size from seed. I've also grown edible alliums from seed, and they sprout fairly readily as long as they are fresh, though they lose viability quicker than many other kinds of garden seed.

nhbabs, there's no way to tell what these are. I often collect seeds of unknown plants without knowing what the heck it is or what I'm possibly getting myself into. I guess that's living dangerously and I have paid the price a couple times but for the most part its worked out well. This particular garden is so distinctive that I did a jaw drop and nearly swerved off the road when I saw all those hard to find natives happily baking in the sun in that inferno. Those are plants you cannot buy and whoever planted it was probably a transplant from either Mexico or South Texas. Its the kind of garden most people would see as not colorful or even weedy and drive right by. Its all in the eye of the beholder.

Helenium 'Autumn Lollipop' I had traded seeds but did not get any germination.

This is a favorite allium that I rescued (with permission) from an abandoned yard being turned into a parking lot.

{{gwi:252745}}

Feverfew
{{gwi:415835}}

Another feverfew

{{gwi:339575}}

Shasta Daisy 'Sante'
{{gwi:415831}}

Some zinnias and annual peony poppies also are ball shaped.

These and others already listed are used throughout my mixed perennial beds to add variety of color and flower and foliage variety.

Not feverfew, this white one is a perennial but I've forgotten at the moment what it is called.

{{gwi:2120571}}

Globe allium in front bed

{{gwi:240299}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Helenium 'Autumn Lollipop'

Bobbie, love that first Feverfew of yours, do you ever collect seed from it, hint hint, hint :).

Shasta Daisy Summer Snowball

Annette, sorry for responding so late. I searched in vain through my seed supplies but have no seed for the first feverfew. It self seeds readily so will collect seed next summer. If you and others still want seeds please contact me then.
Bobbie

Duplicate

This post was edited by mnwsgal on Thu, Jan 22, 15 at 20:35

Thanks Bobbie I'll do that :).

Annette