Pool landscaping ideas for privacy
Pool landscaping ideas: The best materials to use in and around a backyard pool
(Image credit: Breegan Jane)
Good pool landscaping ideas need careful thought, planning and preparation.
But worry not. We break down all you need to know about the different types of pool landscaping, from pool landscaping with rocks to pool ideas for privacy and shade.
The materials used – from paving, aggregates and decking, to decorative edging and the hard materials employed for in-ground pools – add texture and character to a backyard pool garden, marking out the structure and leading the eye through to the swimming pool and beyond.
The best time to undertake a pool landscape redesign is in winter, when the backyard is dormant. But the summer months are the time to analyze the ways in which you use the space and to understand what you need from your future design.
These backyard ideas will help you find the best ways to landscape around a pool and explain what you need to consider before you begin.
Pool landscaping ideas
From putting greens to privacy, these landscaping ideas add major value (and fun) to your pool area.
1. Plant on an island
(Image credit: Brittany Farinas, House of One / Lifestyle Production Group)
Your pool landscaping ideas don't have to be relegated to the sides of the pool. For an original idea that evokes a tropical resort, bring the vegetation into the pool by stationing it on an island structure right in the middle of water, like at this Florida home by Brittany Farinas of House of One Interiors . Want to go full paradise vibes? Use palms.
2. Use lighting to enhance the landscape
(Image credit: Designer: The Fox Group Photographer: Lindsay Salazar)
Lighting is the perfect complement to pool landscaping. It can emphasize certain features (try uplighting shrubs and trees) and enhance the overall ambience of a newly landscaped space.
String lights are a pool lighting idea that's more about form than function, but the ambience a set of bistro lights will add to your pool area is second to none.
If you're lucky enough to have a pool house, use it as an anchor point for your string lights, and stretch them above the length of the pool, like The Fox Group did, above. No pool house? Try filling the bottom of whisky barrel planters with cement, then inserting a wooden post to create a semi-permanent anchor point for lights. Don't forget to finish off the planters with soil and your favorite annuals.
3. Use planters to add personal style
(Image credit: Thomas Guy Interiors / Haylei Smith)
Both your planters and the plants you put in them are a chance to add your personal style to your pool patio ideas.
'We like to include banana leaf trees and orchids to add a touch of nature, and high-design planters can be a creative way to show off one’s own personal style,' says Lance Thomas of Louisiana-based Thomas Guy Interiors . Above, Thomas chose organic planters and unstructured ferns to complement the contemporary, minimalist pool design.
4.
Include a putting green(Image credit: Breegan Jane)
Your pool landscaping ideas can offer more than just beauty and a bit of shade. Add recreation to the list by installing a putting green adjacent to your pool patio, like interior designer Breegan Jane did at her client's Southern California home, where the goal of the outdoor space was to 'surprise and delight.'
5. Use landscaping for privacy
(Image credit: Brittany Farinas, House of One Interiors / Lifestyle Production Group)
Looking for a pool fence idea that adds privacy and beauty? Your landscaping can do the job if you plant high trees or bushy shrubs around the perimeter of your pool or property, a la this Florida property.
Another idea we love from this photo? The cabana. When you're brainstorming your landscaping and pool area ideas, don't forget to include a shady spot to retreat to when you're tired of sunbathing.
6. Invest in LED lighting around a pool
(Image credit: Future / Mark Bolton )
When considering pool landscaping, smart pool lighting ideas certainly have their part to play. A well-planned lighting scheme can do wonders for your backyard pool and shouldn't be an afterthought.
'For small cascades and fountains, direct underwater spotlights onto the plinth of flowing water, or run a color-changing LED strip along the rill from which the water emerges,' suggests Sally Storey, lighting director at John Cullen.
An impressive backyard pool is hugely enhanced when illuminated at night. Underwater lights can be halogen, LED or fiber optic, but they must be encased in waterproof, IP-rated fixtures.
Alternatively, solar garden lighting ideas, such as bulbs hidden in between evergreens or in containers create a soft glow.
7. Pick the perfect pool deck landscaping
(Image credit: Future / Mark Bolton Photography)
Poolside deck ideas provide versatile and cost-effective ways to extend your living area into the outdoors. What's more, decking creates the perfect focal point for a low-maintenance yard, and is cheaper and easier to use than paving.
At its best, a sturdy, water-resistant timber deck is a handsome, hard-wearing pool area idea that complements most backyard pool settings.
But decks don’t only look good: other advantages include being relatively lightweight in comparison to stone, quick and easy to install and forgiving. Plus, timber can be cut to size to fit perfectly round awkward corners – perfect if you don't have a rectangular pool.
8. Add shade and privacy with ivy
(Image credit: Future / Armelle Habib)
In an ideal world our pool areas would be private sanctuaries where we could swim, entertain and relax away from prying eyes.
Yet, for many pool owners, the reality is quite different. Spending time outdoors can be like living in a goldfish bowl because there is nothing to screen their backyard pool from neighboring windows.
Smart garden shade ideas are great if you want to shield your pool area from the neighborhood and create shady coverage at the same time. A good place to start is with your pool fence or property boundary.
If you have an existing fence or trellis, plant ivy near the base to create a living privacy wall. No fence? Plant a deciduous hedge, or trail ivy up a wall using a trellis.
9. Landscape with rocks, trees and overgrown grasses
(Image credit: Future / © Roy Westwood)
If you are not one for a traditional pool area, then consider a more natural landscape for your outdoor swim.
Today’s natural pools – or swimming ponds as they are often known – are welcomed into the border garden, whether in a formal setting of lawns, surrounded by flowers and grasses, or even made to look like a natural garden pond.
For a rugged appearance, take inspiration from creative rock garden ideas and lay down plenty of misshapen rocks, pebbles and limestone. The main highlight of a rock garden is the quiet, zen-like aesthetic they add to your backyard.
10. Highlight a rectangular pool with flower beds and borders
(Image credit: Future / Alistair Nicholls)
Whether you like raised garden bed ideas or you prefer planting straight into the ground, flower beds can make exceptional dividers for a garden path around a backyard pool.
This is especially the case when you bring tall, architectural plants into the mix. This smart garden path idea is a beautiful way to establish the boundary of a walkway and to zone off your pool area from the rest of the garden.
What's more, it will continue to offer color and structure throughout the seasons, even when the pool is not in use.
11. Set up a seating area around the pool
(Image credit: Future / Mark Bolton)
When considering pool patio ideas and other hard landscaping materials for a pool, your first priority will be to establish the functional spaces, from terraces and patios, to paths and borders around the swimming pool.
The expanse of an area and its use will dictate which materials are most suitable.
For instance, a hard standing for a table and chairs needs to be flat and stable, and you might want to keep granular aggregates, such as gravel or bark, away from the pool so they are not carried into the water.
12.
Install a non-slip surface(Image credit: Future / Polly Eltes)
While a pebble-dashed floor isn't entirely non-slip, it is certainly a less slippery option in comparison to stone slabs, pavers and decking.
Opt for an entirely smooth surface to avoid any nasty cuts on the feet and if your pool is indoors, be sure to include a professional drainage system.
Proper drainage will ensure that the water in your in-ground pool remains clean and protects your surrounding yard, deck, patio, landscaping, and home from possible water damage, erosion, and debris.
Plus, no one wants to be constantly mopping up water.
13. Landscape around a pool with grass
(Image credit: Kimberley Harrison / Kathryn MacDonald)
Your lawn serves as a huge source of air conditioning for your garden and also releases oxygen and simultaneously captures dust, keeping you and your family healthy, so it's a perfect option for near a pool area.
To reap the many benefits to the full, keep your lawn as healthy as possible and your lawn pays you back for all the work you put into it.
What’s more, your lawn needs plenty of water to encourage the roots to grow deep into the ground, and the best way to achieve this is to water deep. Try to water heavily, on an infrequent basis.
Plus, you’ll want to make sure the chlorine from the pool doesn’t sit on top for too long.
14. Use concrete as a modern alternative to stone slabs
(Image credit: Future / Matthew Williams)
Lusting after a modern industrial landscape? Durable, easy to clean and heat-retaining, there’s a lot to love about concrete flooring in a modern backyard.
Perfect for nailing the urban trend, it works best in contemporary spaces, but can also be mixed with plenty of greenery and colored foliage for a striking contrast.
While the use of concrete has become commonplace, it was once seen as an inferior material in comparison to stone. But if we can forget about it as a cheap substitute we discover that it has its own intrinsic qualities, as interesting as natural materials and very much more versatile.
Concrete is quite simply a blend of aggregates – sand and gravel or crushed stone – bonded together in a dense, stone-like mass by hardened cement.
This material has made possible incredible structures and surfaces. It is the cement that gives concrete its dull-gray appearance, and so the secret with in-situ garden paving is to remove the cement from the surface before it sets.
15. Mix materials around a pool
(Image credit: Belgard)
Large patio pavers have been gaining popularity in California in recent years, and it is easy to see why.
If you're wondering how to make your garden feel more modern without embarking on an overly expensive redesign, then you should seriously consider employing oversized patio pavers for the landscaping around your pool.
As far as backyard landscaping ideas go, large pavers are the opposite of discreet and that's exactly why we're seeing more of them in outdoor paving designs.
Bold and immediately noticeable, oversized paving slabs create an instant indoor-outdoor effect, because they emit the luxury look of indoor tiles – just outdoors.
What is best to put around a pool?
(Image credit: Future / Jody Stewart)
Paving slabs are one of the most common garden materials for landscaping around a pool. Paving or pavers are readily available as individual blocks, in a wide range of shapes, colors and sizes that can be laid in several pattern configurations. You can also buy specialist kits, such as circles, for patios.
Mostly made from pre-cast concrete or reconstituted stone, pavers can also be used for garden paths, terraces, steps and patios. They are also ideal for adding a large expanse in the same color/material. A matching path and patio area can be used to lead the eye through the garden or to an adjacent pool house.
What's more, pavers are mostly affordable, readily available and fairly straightforward to lay. Small pavers can be teased into curves, tight corners and organic shapes, and there are a good selection of edgings and borders available to complete the look.
Be aware that large pavers will need cutting. Tailor your design to limit the number of cuts at planning stage, and hire a slab and walling block splitter to ensure a neat job.
Jennifer is the Digital Editor at Homes & Gardens. Having worked in the interiors industry for a number of years, spanning many publications, she now hones her digital prowess on the 'best interiors website' in the world. Multi-skilled, Jennifer has worked in PR and marketing, and the occasional dabble in the social media, commercial and e-commerce space. Over the years, she has written about every area of the home, from compiling design houses from some of the best interior designers in the world to sourcing celebrity homes, reviewing appliances and even the odd news story or two.
With contributions from
- Kaitlin MaddenExecutive Editor, Homes & Gardens
4 Landscaping Ideas For Privacy Around Your Pool in Haymarket, Gainesville, and Round Hill, VA
Your swimming pool is the memory-making destination on your property. While you want to enjoy special time with your friends and family, you don’t want to be on display for the rest of the neighborhood to see. Pool privacy is important to you.
Fortunately, there are solutions that will help you create privacy around your pool in an attractive way. Landscaping is a great way to make your pool feel secluded and shielded from prying eyes. It can also be an aesthetic addition that adds quite a bit of natural beauty to the space.
To help you get started, we’ve rounded up some of our best pool privacy landscaping ideas for Haymarket, Gainesville, and Round Hill, VA. You want to be sure to choose a landscape designer who is thinking outside of the box and coming up with solutions to your privacy challenges.
Pool Landscaping Ideas for Privacy
The following are 4 of our best ideas to help you generate privacy around your pool. When you’re out enjoying time with friends and family, you don’t need neighbors or passerby to be looking in.
1.
Plant Choice is Critical for Pool PrivacyAs you can imagine, certain plants are going to be more effective as privacy screens than others. Ideally, you want plants that are dense and “hard to see through.” The height of plants can obviously also come into play but it’s all about a strategic design. Your landscape designer should be paying attention to lines of sight (which will be our next point and we’ll explain in more depth).
Here are a few shrubs that you can consider for effective privacy screening.
- Bayberry: The evergreen Bayberry shrub can make a nice privacy addition as a result of its dense foliage.
- Viburnum: This shrub’s fragrant flowers grow tall and wide, helping to serve as a privacy screen.
- Gracillimus: Ornamental grasses, such as the Gracillimus species, are another great choice for pool privacy. An added benefit is that most ornamental grasses grow pretty quickly, so you won’t find yourself waiting a bunch of seasons for them to fill in.
Tree choices can also be an effective choice for creating privacy. Many evergreen trees grow thick and dense. Green Giant Arborvitae, for instance, is thought to be a “go-to” for privacy screening thanks to its size, shape, and dense foliage. In fact, most arborvitae choices would work well for privacy screening.
Other trees that we like to use for pool privacy include the Hornbeam, Cryptomeria, and the Emily Brunner Holly.
2. Plant Location is Equally as Important for Pool Privacy
As we mentioned, it’s not just about the plant that your landscape designer chooses, but also where on the property it is being installed. Location is everything when it comes to privacy around the pool.
While many homeowners assume that a border is necessary to create the most privacy, that’s not your only option. In fact, staggering plants can be more attractive and just as effective as creating a full “wall” of row-to-row plant material. It also looks a lot more natural than a formal row.
It’s also important to remember that when you are in the pool, you’ll be lower. That means even smaller plant material can still effectively serve as a privacy screen. It all comes down to “lines of sight.” Your landscape designer should be paying attention to where people will be able to “look in” on your pool. Are there certain views from a neighbor’s window that can be screened out? What about the view from the sidewalks and street? When thinking about the strategic placement of plant material, you have to consider what views you are blocking.
3. Considering the Seasonality of Pool Privacy
While we often think of a pool in terms of summertime use, the fact is, many homeowners are adding elements that are helping them to get year-round use of their pool space.
Fire features and covered pavilions, for instance, are allowing homeowners to use their pool area even in the “off-season.”
But a lot of people only think about pool landscaping ideas for privacy as those that work during the growing season.
If you plan to use your pool area on more of a year-round basis, thinking about evergreen choices will be important. Sometimes the combination of fencing and landscaping can help a property to be fully secluded but in an attractive way no matter what time of year it is.
4. Using Physical Structures to Create Pool Privacy
Of course, it doesn’t have to only be plant material used in a pool privacy plan. Physical structures such as a pavilion, pergola, or outdoor fireplace can all be quite effective for screening purposes. These elements are large and can be strategically placed within the design with privacy in mind.
On that same token, pergolas with drop-down screens or shades can also help block out neighbors’ views while also providing some respite from the sun.
Even boulders strategically placed or piled around the landscaped areas can play a role in screening. These can be aesthetic additions that look great while also serving some functional value.
Finding a Landscape Designer Who Will Take Pool Landscaping Ideas for Privacy Seriously
At the end of the day, ensuring that these ideas are effectively utilized will boil down to finding a landscape designer who takes your wants and needs (including the desire for privacy) seriously. That means that they’re thinking outside of the box and considering all elements of the design.
The truth is, there’s a lot involved and you need to find a landscape designer who can handle the complexity of what you’re asking. You don’t want someone who is just going to line up some evergreens and call it a day. You want someone who is going to take the aesthetics into account, too.
Plus, each and every project is different and requires a custom solution. That’s why you need a landscape designer who will “think outside of the box.” You want to ensure that you get the best possible solution for your Haymarket, Gainesville, and Round Hill, VA property’s needs.
By choosing to work with Rock Water Farm, we can help walk you through all of the possible ideas. We understand the importance of privacy when it comes to you and your family and friends enjoying your pool to the fullest. We know that you’ve invested a lot into your backyard and you want to be able to enjoy your pool without any worries. We can work with you to ensure that happens.
If you’d like to discuss more pool privacy ideas for your Haymarket, Gainesville, and Round Hill, VA backyard, talk to an expert, choose a solution that rocks, and then get ready to see your dream come to life.
25 Tropical Pool Improvement Ideas
Amazing Tropical Pool Relaxation
A backyard tropical pool is a dream come true for everyone. How would you like to spend your vacation: being alone with yourself, sitting at home and having fun without spending much, or relaxing in a stunning backyard where friends and family gather on weekends? No matter. Incredible pool and terrace a must have. Some solutions will transform the space, betray freshness, exoticism.
Combining a tropical area with a swimming pool is fairly easy to do and has a high chance of success. From understated and urban to extravagant and outrageous, here are 25 solutions to inspire you to bring a touch of the tropics into your life.
Add a bridge and a house to complete this beautiful, rejuvenating pool
The ultimate vacation
The concept of a great vacation has always been associated with sandy beaches, scorching heat, lush vegetation and the splendor of colorful flowers. Of course, some of the incredible sources of inspiration cannot be completely copied, but you can borrow individual elements from each of them and adapt them to the style of your site for a fresher look.
A fabulous tropical home and pool surrounded by lush tropical vegetation
These little touches can be something as simple as colorful palm trees, bougainvillea or other flower plantations, or more complex as an outdoor shower surrounded by lush greenery or a luxurious Jacuzzi. From fire pits to Tiki torches, from cottages to gazebos, they all evoke the aura of a tropical landscape.
Spectacular pool and terrace with fire pits and relaxing sun lounger
Thatched roof and pool house
Small tropical pool landscaping
Don't worry if you can't design your backyard and pool in a tropical style. The images that you see, although they seem spectacular and very expensive to implement, even a tiny city courtyard will turn into a magical haven if you install a pool and surround it with suitable tropical plants, shrubs and vines. A small terrace by the pool with a couple of sun loungers and a fireplace completes an unimaginable and intimate stay, most suitable for summer romantic evenings.
Relaxing and stylish tropical deck and landscaping
Glittering tropical pool combines fire and water in an exciting way
Cozy and tranquil backyard pool
Small square pool
Make the pool special
Tropical garden landscaping The basin is often endowed with natural rocks, lots of greenery and a few colorful flowering plants. But for those who spare no effort, a waterfall pool is the perfect solution for fun for the whole family. As an addition, there can be a slide that gives a certain charm to the pool and brings happiness to small children. A footpath or a bridge, grottoes that play the role of an open bar, or a cinema - all this is for those who want to use the yard for different purposes.
Amazing tropical garden and pool inspired by Bali design elements
Beach with slide that leads to the pool
Delightful backyard getaway with pool, waterfalls and lush greenery
Expansive pools with waterfalls perfect for a tropical garden
Why not do not make a cinema in a tropical backyard
Hidden cave next to the pool - the perfect addition to paradise in the backyard
Combine with home
While most contemporary homes look great in a tropical setting, some urban residences may seem out of place. To solve this problem, combine modern ergonomics offering a sleek design and clean straight lines with tropical vegetation, motifs and décor and you have the best of both worlds.
Another popular style that goes well with tropical design is Mediterranean. Regardless of the style you pair it with, you can be sure that the tropical design of the pool and the surrounding landscape will shine.
Pool terrace combines tropical style with Mediterranean charm
Tropical pool and vegetation around
Vegetation wall provides privacy
Categories: Reservoirs on siteLocations: With a pool
Recreation area landscape design and ideas for its competent design.
Contents of the article
- 1 How to arrange a recreation area in the garden
- 2 What elements of recreation to choose for the site
- 3 Landscaped swimming pools - a modern solution to the problems of relaxation.
How to decorate a recreation area in the garden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZSrOpTvBDw
The recreation area in the garden and on the site today occupies one of the main places, is the heart of our site.
Having redone all the work in the garden, we want to spend time in coziness and comfort without leaving our garden. The time spent in the garden allows us to relax and rejuvenate, to fully enjoy the beauty of our own garden.
But in order for the recreation area in the garden to be attractive and conducive to comfort, it is necessary to make some efforts at the stage of landscape design of the site.
There are no universal rules, you should always focus on the wishes of the owners of the garden and the conditions of the site, but some tips will help make the recreation area on the site cozy and comfortable:
stay. It should be protected from prying eyes, direct sunlight, wind and drafts, if possible, be not too far from home. To isolate the recreation area, you can use large ornamental shrubs, tall ornamental grasses, hedges, gabions, adjoining walls of the house. It is preferable to arrange a recreation area on the southwestern side of the site. Remember that the shadow can be created artificially, but the sun cannot. A good example is the relaxation areas in the Appeltern Model Gardens.
The recreation area should visually unite the site with the house, be a continuation of the house (for example, a terrace), have a single style.
2. The place of rest should be spacious enough, freely accommodate furniture, hosts, guests, container plants, and various accessories. Do not forget that recreation can also be active: for example, a pool on the site or a lawn for active games can be a recreation area on the site or adjoin to it.
3. The recreation area in the garden near water devices looks beautiful and romantic: a reservoir, a waterfall, a fountain or a stream, even a wet stone. The freshness and murmur of water will give special emotions.
4. Pay special attention to plants when designing a recreation area in the garden: large trees will provide shade, climbing plants on pergolas will shade the resting place on the site, flower beds will please the eye. Plants will perform not only an aesthetic, but also a practical function. And the choice of paving material will give a special charm: you can use crushed gravel, old brick, natural stone, paving installation. After a sunny day, the stone keeps heat for a long time, if you wish, you can choose your favorite path from the gallery of garden ideas.
5. Don't forget DIY garden design - it will help make your garden seating area irresistible!
What elements of recreation to choose for the site
The landscape around the gazebo must certainly create a romantic mood conducive to relaxation and unhurried reflection. A corner for solitude It doesn't matter how big or small the garden is - if the owners have put their soul into it, it does not end with a physical limit in the form of a fence for them, but on the contrary, each time it opens up new corners. In order for the garden to be attractive, all the details in the setting must complement each other, there can be nothing secondary, and therefore a special role is given to small forms, in particular gazebos.
It is very difficult to find any style where this building would not be used, and the point here is not at all in strict rules for arrangement: if you wish, you can create a gazebo under any conditions. In landscape design, gazebos play several roles, these are places of rest and an aesthetic detail, such as, for example, the same arches and sculptures, however, comfort also plays an important role. The gazebo has long ceased to be a wooden structure of a rounded shape, where there is a table and benches, but this design does not lose its relevance, since the design of garden gazebos largely depends on their area, which in turn depends on the area of the garden plot.
Let's look at the options: Gazebo in a small area - as a rule, this is exactly the building that was mentioned a little above. For small areas, landscape design with a large gazebo is absolutely unacceptable - it completely captures all the visible space and instead of the effect of creating comfort, which is always present in compact spaces, a clutter effect is created.
In small plots, in most cases, pergolas are installed not in the central part, but somewhere in the corner sector or at the beginning of the plot, so that a perspective view opens from the windows. For this type of plot, a gazebo can be made independently, if you have experience, or you can buy it ready-made, it all depends on financial capabilities. The design may be the simplest, up to the fact that four supports are dug into the ground, supporting the roof, under which a table with benches is installed, but it is better to take care of at least a minimum level of comfort. Installing shutters or windows will allow you not only to hide from the midday heat, but also during the rain, when drops hit the roof with force. For lighting, you can use a candlestick, which will give the atmosphere even more comfort, but an electrical outlet will not be superfluous.
An arbor for a large area - here you can show your imagination, which is especially facilitated by modern building materials. On a large plot, you can afford a real multifunctional gazebo. In order for the landscape around the gazebo to be clearly visible, it is built in the form of a podium that rises above the rest of the environment. Depending on the project, the gazebo can be installed as a separate building or have a transition to the landscape around the gazebo. For forms used in the summer, a lattice structure made of solid wood is used, which is subsequently braided with grapes or other plants. A more solid construction is made of brick, it is suitable for year-round use. Glass door systems are installed here, allowing you to stay in the gazebo even in winter cold, and a kitchen corner with a fireplace stove, barbecue and other amenities is equipped without fail.
Any landscape design with pavilions is considered primarily as a spectacular addition to the overall ensemble, so be sure to correlate convenience and aesthetics, which should not conflict. If the size of the site allows, then, in addition to the main gazebo, where the kitchen area is located, you can equip an additional one by placing it near the walking alley. This option is used for temporary rest, therefore artistic forging is very often used here and, as a final touch, the structure is wrapped with ivy.
Landscaped swimming pools - a modern solution to the problems of relaxation.
Modern landscape design is not only the embodiment of bold ideas and the combination of certain plants in different areas of the garden, but also a competent combination of all the elements present on the territory, from a country house, a fence, a barbecue, ending with a pool, gazebos and others structures. Today we will get acquainted with the most interesting landscape design ideas with a swimming pool.
When creating a landscape design project, it is important to consider that there must be a connection between the pool and the surrounding landscape. To do this, you should consider what shape the pool will have, what style prevails in the design, since the overall design of the pool also depends on it.
For example, a formal style garden calls for classical forms and a smooth patio landscape, while a natural style calls for free forms and waterfalls, lots of planting, and may even include a rock garden.
If your house is made in the old style, then the pool should be surrounded by bizarre stones with creeping spitting.
In addition to beauty, flowers in landscaping give a unique fragrance to the entire garden. Around the pool, you can create a flower garden of perennials and annuals. Perennials will delight you with their beauty year after year, while annuals will have to be planted annually. However, the latter are distinguished by a large number of color variations and styles.
Which paths lead to the pool?
As a rule, the pool is located at the back of the house, which means that the paths leading to it must also be made in the same style. To create paths, landscape designers recommend using limestone, sandstone, quartzite, granite and other natural materials that will be pleasant to walk on barefoot.
Heat-absorbing materials should not be used, since walking along paths, for example made of brick, on a bright sunny day will become impossible without shoes.
How to use slopes in pool and garden design?
The presence of drops on the site is currently more of an advantage than a disadvantage. To strengthen the slopes, retaining walls are used, with which you can create functional spaces.
For example, if the house is on a hill, and the plot extends down, you can use a retaining wall to separate the house from the recreation area. As a result, you will get a beautiful view of the pool and at the same time a closed space from prying eyes for a good rest.
It is better to choose a natural material for the construction of a retaining structure, such as stone or wood. You can also create a wall of boulders, which are more cost-effective compared to natural stone.
Large drops can be disguised with waterfalls, through which the water will fall directly into the pool.
Small stones and decorative gravel will add aesthetic beauty to the whole system. The stones for the construction of the waterfall should be selected in accordance with the design of the landscape and depending on the sound that they will create when the water falls. For example, jagged stones will create more splashes, and the sound will resemble the water cascades of mountains.
Smoother boulders will give you calm water and a relaxing murmur. For a better sound effect, grottoes can be built. To give the pool naturalness, its design is completed with landscaping and lighting.
Pool lighting is an important design element
Designers use LED lights to illuminate the pool. They are able to influence the mood of the entire structure, turning the pool area into a beautiful kingdom.
At the same time, landscape lighting should focus on focal points without glare.
Fiber optic lighting can add depth to a pool and highlight waterfalls, if present. Fiber optic lighting can be installed both at the bottom of the pool itself and in the grottoes of the waterfalls.
It should be noted that the use of such methods of pool and landscape lighting is absolutely safe.
Decks and patios around the pool.
Pool decks and patios are very popular as they provide ample space for sun loungers, tables and umbrellas. A large enough patio will accommodate all the furniture within sight of the pool. Usually small concrete areas are poured for tables, chairs and umbrellas, but tiles or paving stones can be used. Since the patio is in close proximity to the pool, it is necessary to provide good drainage so that water does not fall on the decks themselves.
Plants
Plants are commonly used to decorate the entire pool landscaping. But the following must be taken into account. It is better to decorate the patio with potted plants that can be easily moved to change the look of the landscape if desired. In addition, plants in containers can be brought home during the cold season, and put back around the pool the next year. Use plants that won't hang over the pool and drop leaves into it, adding to the cleanup work for you. If you decide to plant plants in the ground, then choose ones that do not have a powerful root system that can damage decks and patios. Short plants, small leaves and flower petals are less likely to be blown into the pool by strong winds.
Trees and shrubs
Where there is a swimming pool, there are trees and shrubs that will provide shade and necessary privacy. Trees provide cool areas around the pool, but they also provide leaves that will inevitably end up in the pool. Avoid trees that have sweet flowers and attract bees, flies, and other biting insects.