Winnipeg poolside plant selection - help?

16 years ago

First post! :)

I'm trying to help a friend of mine select plants for beside her backyard swimming pool. She has a long stretch of ground along the fence, about 3' wide and 20' long. It gets direct sun for most of the afternoon and shade late afternoon and evening, and is backed by tall pyrimidal cedars on the other side of the fence. The yard is relatively sheltered from wind.

I'm wondering, must anything we pick be particularly chlorine-tolerant? She'd like a couple smaller, easy-to-maintain non-bee-attracting shrubs, and some perennials. Her kids are older, though they tend to have the occasional rowdy pool party, so the plants can expect to be splashed. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

northspruce
16 years ago
Ok, first the chlorine shouldn't be a big deal on most plants. So, aiming for things that aren't prickly and don't attract bees... for small shrubs, dogwood and spirea come to mind. Both do attract bees but they bloom early when they probably won't be using the pool. For perennials, my favourite perennial in the whole world this year is Penstemon 'Dwarf Navigator'. It's tidy, bright coloured, trouble-free, blooms a ton, and I don't notice a lot of bees around it. Also Painted Daisies, columbine, and hardy geraniums (cranes-bills) come to mind. Most flowers attract bees a bit but bees aren't overly crazy about any of these in my experience.

Hope that helps to start it off, what's everyone else think?
valleyrimgirl
16 years ago
Low growing perennials such as the yellow stonecrop, dragon's blood or kamschatka sedum should be fine in the full sun by the pool. Hens and Chicks (sempervivums) and jovibarbas would be great too. Blue fescue would not attract bees. Standard dwarf bearded irises would be great along the front of the border as well as miniature daylilies. Some hostas might be okay there also.

As for the bees...I have worked outside all summer for hours each day in and around the bees and all the flowers. I have been bitten a few times by the tiniest little bees that would be only 1/8" long but never any of the large bumblebees or honey bees that seem to enjoy the flowers also.

Brenda
Related Discussions
Roses around Calgary and area
Q
Comments (20)
Shillanorth, your roses are absolutely beautiful. I adore Winnipeg Parks, it is perfect in my eyes - vibrant unique colour, cupped hybrid-tea-like shape, large flowers, self cleaning, compact, slight fragrance(better than none) & bushy green foliage. I could fill my garden with only Winnipeg Parks, and be quite content with my life's existence, lol. SCG, good to know about the scent from Morden Sunrise. At first it was on my wishlist, then went off the list because I came across Bill Reid, which is similar in appearance, but with larger and more vibrant flowers. But now it's back on the wishlist knowing it has scent. I will be on the lookout for some rugosas for scent. I've seen that therese is a beast. I am leaning towards marie bugnet. I still have hope for some fall blooms, despite the crazy snowfall in the last few days. They are calling for 22C next week. My Winnipeg parks are at still alive, but did suffer some freezing last night:
...See More
Advice for Flowering Bush Poolside
Q
Comments (9)
My crape myrtles don't bloom until late August, normally; they're one of the very last woodies to flower in my garden. The closest anything I've got comes to blooming all summer is Fairy rose, which is under 4 feet high and is as tough as nails. I know there are other long-blooming roses, I just don't happen to have them. I have a row of 4' tall russian sage near my pool that blooms for well over a month, but I wouldn't recommend it because it attracts bees; I'm planning to move it away from the pool area (one of these years). Annabelle hydrangea is about the size you're talking about, and is also very tough, and having sterile flowers it doesn't attract bees. Not sure how it would do in clay, but mine's in fairly poor sandy soil and blooms well without extra water. ANYTHING you plant will need to be watered for the first few seasons, unless there's lots of rain. And almost nothing will grow well in unamended clay, so if this is a high-visibility area, you might want to add a load of compost to the native soil before you plant.
...See More
Any backyard planting advice for a guy a long way from zone 3 ??
Q
Comments (18)
Oh no!! You said the "T" word......topping. In the wrong hands this word can lead to permanently damaged landscape plants, especially trees. You could agressively trim, but why go to all that trouble? Just choose plants whose mature size will fit into your space and save your free time to enjoy your pool and landscape. As for vines, there are several to choose from. Forget wisteria here, but perhaps Lilac Vine (Hardenbergia violacea) would work. Lady Banks rose (thornless in white or yellow) grows fast as does Pink Trumpet Vine (Podranea ricasoliana). You don't want Bougainvillea with your pool or you'll be constantly fishing out the colorful leaves/flowers. Heres a link to Landscape Plants for the Arizona Desert which has over 200 low water use plants with photos and descriptions. You'll need to water your new plants correctly for the first few weeks so refer to page 14 of Landscape Watering by the Numbers. Page 9 shows how much water to apply based on the size of the plant. Most of the valley cities have free landscape classes offered by their water conservation offices. Of course folks on this forum always have great advice. Good luck!
...See More
Help to find the right tree
Q
Comments (8)
mindshift's comments are very accurate - the spread of a tree's roots has little to nothing to do with its profile or canopy spread. If anything, the spread is more closely aligned with the height of the tree, but even that is not much of an accurate indication. The roots will spread as far as they need to in order to access nutrients and moisture from the soil. However, arborvitaes are not known for having aggressive roots. That's one reason they are often used in some very tight places and frequently immediately adjacent to structures. They are unlikely to lift or crack pool coping nor are they inclined to damage a structurally sound inground pool (or house foundation). And because they are a needled evergreen, they are not a bad choice for poolside planting, as litter is minimal. I have to chuckle a bit at the "giant" Emerald arborvitae. Nothing "giant" about this selection at all!! Generally will only grow to 12-15' in height........maybe as much as 20' over an extended period of time and in very good conditions. That is considered quite small in tree terms ;-) In fact, there is a current thread on another forum discussing why arborvitaes are described in most literature as shrubs rather than trees.
...See More
northspruce
16 years ago
I've never been stung by bees either - I assume the concern is that lots of kids are scared of &/or allergic to bees. I had to think hard because I purposely plant flowers that attract bumble bees, I like them.
dannie
16 years ago
I would be concerned about the chlorine from the pool. When my daughter was small, we put an 8 foot pool on the patio next to wooden planters that bordered the patio. The chlorine killed whatever I put in there. Would you believe that even bishop's weed suffered? The other planter further away from the pool was fine.

Danni
marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
16 years ago
Gil, in my experience, cranesbill is a real bee attraction. As for the chlorine, it might affect the foliage if it's splashed on plants. I think there's probably a greater concentration of it in pools than in tap water. Plants don't seem to care about being watered with tap water but pool water might be another thing.
debbiecz3
16 years ago
My suggestion would be potentilla shrubs. They are tough as nails, will tolerate all that heat etc, and I bet they wouldn't mind the pool water either although I can't be certain of that. They put on a long season of bloom and are pretty low maintenance other than a hard pruning every once in a while. They also come in a variety of colors and heights.

Winnipeg poolside plant selection - help?

Comments (6)

northspruce

valleyrimgirl

Related Discussions

northspruce

dannie

marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario

debbiecz3

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US