Landscape Design around Pools

When you have a swimming pool, no matter whether it is in-ground or above-ground, it'll be vacation time all summer long at your place! However, since a pool is a permanent fixture and since it tends to take up a lot of room, it is always in view, so this "garden accessory" has to be carefully integrated into your overall landscape.

Landscaping around a pool

When integrating a pool into your landscape picture you don't want to necessarily hide it, neither do you want to accentuate its presence. Keep in mind that the true stars of the scene are your plants. Vegetation around a pool is key to creating a sense of unity. Plants serve as the link between structural elements (house, pool, patio, walkways, etc.) and all the rest of your yard. They are ideal for softening the coldness of these structures and for creating a sense of warmth and welcoming.

Use plants to:

Create points of interest, flower beds, centres of attention and colourful group plantings that soften the dazzle of the blue water.

Break up the starkness of the concrete around an in-ground pool with plants, either in beds or in containers.

Do the same around the patio adjacent to the pool to create a natural link between the two structures.

Hang plants around the side of an above-ground pool or off the fence around an in-ground pool.

Hide the pool pump behind plants.

Give yourself some privacy and at the same time create a microclimate by planting a conifer hedge or by installing a trellis that you can cover with climbing plants.

What to plant:

Plants around a pool get lots of sun and soakings of chlorinated water which can burn the leaves and roots. You can protect them by spreading organic mulch (western bark or cocoa hulls) around their base. Also, succulent plants tend to be more resistant.
Plants suitable around a pool
If you love flowers around the pool, but not in the water, opt for low-growing annuals and perennials as opposed to trees and shrubs.

Plants suitable around a pool
Perennials and Annuals

Daylily, Begonia, Sedum, Thyme, Grasses.

Shrubs and Conifers
Winter creeper, Weeping mulberry, Wild rose, Juniper, Bearberry, Mugho pine, Cotoneaster Cedar.

There is one very important thing to be careful to when planning a garden around the swimming pool: don't let plants block your view from the windows of the house to the pool. You'll want to be able to keep an eye on the pool at all times, especially if there are children in the water.