I'm a 7th generation Fl native. I lived in Lake Wales for 26 years. You have SO many choices being in Winter Haven.

Sinking them into the ground is a good choice, however, if you have live oaks, the root system may very well be a HUGE hinderance (we have several types of oaks, mostly black) You'll find that you'll have to change your plant selection as the tree grows or you prune, as the sun availability will change. Also, sand is very hard to keep out of the hole as you dig, so keep it wet so you can form a proper circle.

Personally, I'd put them on the ground and put potted plants around them..you might want to move them.

You didn't mention what direction the area to be planted faces. You'll find that the morning sun is MUCH more forgiving than the afternoon sun, which can scorch plants horribly.

As for the grass...WELCOME TO FL!! If you're able to invest in Floritam, I'd do that (that's what I have in the front yard). It's a heavy centipede grass that feels wonderful to walk on, but is a heavy feeder and will compete with the trees...and will lose. Floritam (a St. Augustine hybrid) can only be purchased in plugs or sod pallets, not seed. The seed grasses (Bahia and Bermuda0 are very loose and have to be mowed HIGH to keep thier green color, however, they need little water and even when you're sure it's dead, will come right back with the heat and rain. It's also good for yards with dogs, as it will right itself and come back even if you have a heavy dog that leaves a racetrack around the yard!

I would suggest that you trim out the trees (hurricanes wreak havoc on oaks make SURE you keep the wood from the trimming so you can sell it for firewood next year) so the light and wind will pass through. Wind, if strong enough, will make them rock if they're not "open" resulting in a huge hump around the base of the tree, and a loss of topsoil from the slope.

One suggestion...find (don't buy) some trumpet vine. We always call it Flame o' the Woods vine, stick it in a pot of mostly sand with some garden soil (just cut off a piece and stick it in) and set the pots under your oaks. That stuff will grow up into the tree (won't kill it)will grow right through the pot into the ground and attracts honeybees. I have 2 wild hives and as we speak, HUNDREDS of bees are all over it!

A fabulous reference book (the Fl gardener's Bible) is called Month By Month Gardening in FL and will tell you exactly what to do and when to do it! Ebay has it for about $5.
Good luck with your new yard!

Drainage: use a paddle bit to make the holes and put some rock in the bottom to keep dirt from clogging the holes. DO NOT use limerock, invest in some stone. The rainy season will fill the pool, everything WILL drown if you don't. Don't worry about puddles around the pool, the rain will drain through the sand.

Topsoil: CC Calhoun's Winter Haven (863) 292-9511

I have NO GRASS! Nothing to mow! No mole crickets or cinch bugs! and when the creeping fig finishes creeping over the walls of the house, I'll have nothing to paint! I'm planning now for my old age which I do not want to spend mowing and painting, lol.

Anyway, why fight it? If you've got shade plant ferns and liriope under it, it looks great imho and is cold hardy (if you get the right type of ferns) and is maintenance free! There are many deep shade shrubs you can get as well if you need height.
Lori

See if there is a place you can find Bitter Blue St. Augustine grass. It's very shade tolerant. I have it under my oaks, and it grows like mad, but you can really tell where the shade ends, because it look horrible in the sun.

Thanks everyone!

The front yard faces west. The roots from the oaks are not going to allow us to bury the pools be more work that DH wants to help with an I know my back will not allow me to do it all.

Which is another problem lots of back trouble bending is almost impossible...what ever id sone needs to be low maintance....we could possibly take off for weeks months at a time if the urge strikes us. We could possibly put the sprinklers on a timer tho for watering. Trouble there is sometimes we get rain an don't need the water.

Beginning to think that having shade not such a good idea... more of a curse than a blessing lol

Hiding the plastic kiddie pool: would spray painting the outside (while inflated) help? Green or brown or grey?
For your "no grass", consider getting free mulch dumped there? Quality might not matter if you're not going to be planting in it.

The kiddie pools I lookin at do not inflate they are just round pools more rigid plastic than the blow ups or snap set pools though the will bend an eventually crack (split) so might need to be filled in around if above ground to support the sides of pools.

I really like the trumpet vine idea around the trees not so much the honey bees tho I do have a bit of experince with honey bees....helped my daddy with his bees as a kid most of which was wild hives he captured right off our own property.

I think honey bees gets a bad reputation sometimes because they look so much like yellow jackets which are nasty creatures.

Bitter blue? Hmmm, now I'll have to hunt, lol! I suppose I could lay that along side the Floritam and let them grow together...I'd imagine that each would grow to where it's the most comfortable. TY!

Clueless: My home also faces west...hot, huh? General rule of thumb...if it's spikey and will hurt you, it'll grow in the full western sun. Yucca, century plants, ornamental grasses, aloe, palmettos (which look fabulous when pruned and mulched) pineapple etc. are usually maintenance free and will grow with no effort. I'm assuming you have the same problem as I do...2 trees that shade all but the center of your yard, leaving that as a desert wasteland! Look at full sun landscaping at apartments, office parks, etc. You'll get an idea of what grows well with little effort.

Glad you made this post! It's giving me ideas for my own front yard!

Can you post a picture of your yard? I agree that the 2 oaks will probably suck all the life out of almost everything you try to grow near them. But (sorry) - I think the pool idea is tacky. Perhaps you could make a nice mulched bed for the oaks - interesting shape - plant some ok ground cover (could even be sod grass) that grows in your area around the bed - and call it a day. Robyn

Keep in mind that you can build up the soil under oaks up to 3 inches with no damage to the trees. That's plenty of soil for annuals and some perennials. If they need to go deeper, they will find their way down into the ground around the roots.

Some people put weed cloth and stone and set big, pretty pots on top of it full of flowers. how about hanging plants? Any limbs low enough to piggy-back some long s-hooks to bring them down to watering height?

If you were further south, I could really help you. I have tons of stuff growing under my oaks that don't need much root room, but it's al tropical.

If you love Mickey Mouse, lay out some landscape blocks in the shape of Mickey, fill it with rocks and puts some pots on top. You can actually put 6" of soil on top of the roots as long as you keep it out at the edges and don't cover all the way around, so a nice bed built with landscape blocks and annuals is not out of the question.

I think come June an July my whold front yard is going to be shade. I been watching the past few days no 1 area in the front yard gets more than an hour of sun a day. The yard is very small 20x 30 feet about the oaks are 25 yrs old so good sized trees.

There not as many leaves on them now as there will be come summer so even tho the days are shorter now be more shade in summer or just as much.

Not a lot of money to spend on yard an if hubby spends 100.00 on yard that a lot of money to him for a yard that he really does not care if there is grass or anything out there he could care less what it looks like. So what ever I do I have to know for a fact it will grow not just this yr but in years to come because he's not gonna want to fork over the money yearly.

1 big problem with the grass has been it's never been able to take root good before someone came along an scalped it with a mower. The yard needs a couple of years of grass only being cut 3 or 4 times a summer but the others in the community not about to let that happen because the yard will look unkept.

Many of the yards has same problem in sun an shade no grass because it's never been allowed to grow an become good strong grass.

Maybe I can lay cardboard then mulch a good bit of it set some ornaments out there not everyone likes yard art tho never going to please everyone tho.....