Pool Landscaping Ideas

Plants
The swimming pool area requires plants that will create an inviting atmosphere of luxury, but that won't pollute the pool water and or be a danger to bare feet.

Good pool area plants

• Chinoides Rhododendron (Rhododendron catawbiese "Chinoides") In spring this evergreen shrub, which can reach 1.2m high, produces white flowers with yellow centers.

• Wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei) This semi-evergreen vining shrub will cover an area quickly, but can become invasive in New England. The low growing varieties are 'Emerald 'n Gold' 'Kewensis' 'Minimus' and 'Moonshadow'.

• Boxwood
  Green Velvet Boxwood (Buxus "Green Velvet") grows in a naturally full, rounded form and its slow growth rate means minimal trimming.

  Wintergreen Boxwood (Buxus Microphilla Koreana "Wintergreen"), also known as the liffleleaf boxwood, is a broadleaf upright evergreen shrub with medium to dark green foilage.

• Heather (Calluna vulgaris) An low-growing evergreen shrub that produces small white, pink, or purple flowers along stems of silver, green, and golden foliage

• Periwinkle (Vinca minor) A perennial vining ground cover that grows 3"-6" off the ground and puts out violet-blue flowers in spring and througout the summer. This vine requires at least partial shade.

• Daphne (Daphne cneorum "Rose Daphne") This evergreen shrub, which can reach 30cm high, produces an abundance of highly fragrant pink flowers in early spring.

• Bearberry cotoneaster (Cotoneaster dammeri) This 10-cm-high woody groundcover has a somewhat wild-looking growth pattern, but produces small white flowers in mid-spring and bright orange-red berries in the autumn.

• Bearberry (arctostaphylos uva-ursi) a low-growing evergreen shrub partial to dry, sandy or gravelly soils with leaves that turn a brilliant crimson in late winter.

• Creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum) is perfect for those who love to walk barefoot. This scented ground cover is non-invasive and tough enough to walk on even in shoes. In the late spring and early summer it bears a profusion of lavender, red, or white flowers.

• Cool-climate tropicals
  Create your own tropical escape with pool-side palms and banana trees. The dwarf sugar palm (Arenga engleri), European fan palm (Chamaerops humilis), walking stick palm (Linospadix monostachya), and Bismarck palm (Bismarckia nobilis) can survive in temperatures down to -6 C. The Orinoco banana (Banana musa) is a favorite ornamental in Califoria and the Musa basjoo (Banana musa 'basjoo'), or Japanese banana, can make it through a British winter.

Plants to avoid

• Deciduous trees -- unless you enjoy fishing for leaves.
• Trees that bear fruit, nuts, needles, or catkins are not only messy, they also attract bees.
• Showy flowers also attract bees. Wind-pollinated flowers (usually those with small, dull blooms) bring fewer bees, but aggravate allergies.
• Sharp, prickly, and thorn-bearing plants -- they're not the best friends of bare skin.
• Plants with invasive root systems can damage a swimming pool over the years.

Pool plant tips
In the pool area, large plantings can be more work than they're worth. Instead, try ground covers and ornamental grasses. If you do choose a larger planting, consider its growth rate and make sure it won't grow to extend over the perimeter of the pool. To keep plants from invading the pool area, contain them in pots or raised beds. Make sure run-off water from flower beds will not drain into pool. Near the pool, opt for gravel, rather than bark, mulch as gravel stays put and won't end up in the pool. Use Use