Seven Color Crystal Ball offers free, fast shipping. They are located in Oklahoma so most customers have there order in 3-5 business days. Each package of Crystal Soil is only $1.75 and grows about 2 cups of soil. It takes about 4+ hours to completely expand with water. Then it will need to be re-wetted about every 2-4 weeks, depending on your environment and what type of plant is living in it. The beads actually water your plant! you can find them hear at http://www.sevencolorcrystalball.com/.

So now that I have got the facts of the product out of the way I want to tell you how cool Seven Color Crystal Ball is. Not only is it great for plants its just really cool to play with.  I got several packages in the mail to test out. I dumped this little package of beads into a  bowl and I thought no way this is going to make 2 cups. So I dumped some water in and went off to help Snoopy work on her letters. I forgot about the crystal soil when I finally remembered they had really expanded. The bowl was almost full and I needed to put it in a bigger container.  A few hours later they were Huge. I would say there was 2 cups in the bowl may be a little more.  A fully expanded crystal is about the size of a large marble. They Feel slick, a little squishy and are cool to the touch. 

My daughters had a blast playing with Seven Color Crystal Ball Crystal soil. My two year old couldn't keep her hands out of it. She played with it for hours. I even hid some small items in it so she could feel her way through it to find the items. I have to admit I like playing with it too. I currently have a container sitting next to my computer that I keep sticking my hand in. Because of the unique texture of the crystal soil it makes a great sensory toy.

We also tried it as a soil substitute which is what it was designed to be used as. It looks cool if you place it in a clear container. It comes in a variety of colors so you can choose one that goes with your decor. It stayed hydrated for about 2 weeks its been kind of warm hear about 79 and we haven't had much humidity and it was sitting in a sunny window. It can stay hydrated longer or shorter amounts of time depending on the conditions. If they dry out completely they get super little again I'm talking smaller than a pea. But don't worry they will expand again as soon as you give them some water. That would not be good for a plant thought so I would suggest making sure you add water every now and then.