Stones would look great at first but would gradually be home to weeds and then you'd have to move the stones to get the weeds out. Nope not my cup of tea. Edge with your pressure treated wood. Lay down a thick layer of newspapers over the weeds and grass that is there tucking it under the wood and put wood bark or chip mulch on top of the paper The paper and mulch will kill off anything under it. You will have to do this every couple of years because the paper and mulch will rot down but it's better than digging weeds out of rock

check out the link .... look for screens ... or windbreaks .. and that is basically what you are looking for ... plants in quantity are extremely cheap.. if you buy small... and this place offers such ... also.. your local county extension office ... or soil conservation dist office.. might also offer said plants.. in the proper planting season ... small and cheap ... [a windbreak is soil conservation by definition] ... what ever you decide.. diversify.. planting 100 of any single plant.. is asking for trouble.. somewhere down the line ... planting 33 of 3 types.. makes your original quandary of what to pick.. irrelevant.. lol .. some of each is the proper answer.. lol .. ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Bamboo would work fine for your purpose, but you don't grow it from seed, usually, so you have to buy divisions, and whole plants can be expensive on the scale you are talking about. A bamboo 6' high in a 5-gallon pot would probably be about $40. If you want bamboo that you don't have to maintain, then you would go with clumping bamboo, which is not invasive. Contrary to what the previous poster said, bamboo does not invade pipes or break through concrete, and this applies to all kinds of bamboo, both clumping and running. If you have clumping, you don't need any kind of barrier. If you have running and don't want it to be invasive, you need to install bamboo barrier in a trench about 24" deep. Bamboo barrier is a specialty, high-density plastic that is usually 60 to 80 mils thick. Anything less than that, such as black plastic sheeting, will be about as effective as tissue paper.

It looks like your in Alabama, so I'm making suggestions that I think will overwinter for you and are fast-growing. You could use tall canna and other tropicals like colocasia (elephant ears) and hedychium (ginger) since all like moist conditions and grow to 6 feet. If you get a lot of frost in winter, you can move those in a garage or shed to overwinter or cut them back after the first frost and mulch heavily. These work well using a "stock tank" for a big pot. If your ground is moist (and not from salt water pool), you can just grow these in the ground. Clumping bamboo (fargesia) is another good container plant that grows quickly, but it's a bit more expensive. Buddleia will probably do fine with a half-day of sun, but they can take the heat of full sun. 'Royal Red' grows very quickly up and wide. 'Pink Delight' is another fast-growing, full buddleia. Those are drought-tolerant. Ornamental grasses such as panicum and miscanthus varieties will also work, but will have to be cut back in late winter and then regrow. I don't know when you open your pool (we open ours in mid-May). If you want evergreens (and have no deer problem), arborvitae may work. For deer-resistant evergreens, try cryptomeria 'Black Dragon' -- some of the cryptomeria can get quite tall (40-60 feet), so look for a variety that fits your height requirement. Those are slow growers, so you can add ornamental grasses to the mix. I'm sure I can think of many more ideas. These are just a few that come to mind. Cameron (North Carolina)