for your a/c unit and pool equipment - tall ornamental grasses work wonders to hide/soften all these. You can still plant other flowers & plants in front of them - but the give year round height to kinda fix that up. I can see with you hose and the pot where your going from the written description - I love the idea! The diamond bed in the walkways will really break it up, but yet still kepe with the flow!
~Angie~

I don't know, I'm terrible at design! But I am curious what kind of doggie the little black guy is:-)

LOL Rebecca, I can never go outside without my dog's wanting to be right there with me and if I'm taking pictures they manage to get into the act as well.

The black dog is a mix of lab and rottweiler.
Here's a close up of him and our Lacy.

Awww...beautiful animals!

As for the a/c and pool equipment - I have seen yards where they used decorative lattice to hide these things. Lots of people plant the lattice with vines to provide even more cover-up. If you do something like that, just remember to hinge one side of the lattice or do something to provide access for maintenance. If you plant it with vines, I would plant them in front of the enclosure and train them around the sides so as little damage as possible is done when maintenance time arrives.

Joe that is what has held me back from doing anything to that part of the yard. I've thought of doing just part of a lattice so the unit and filter is not seen from the one side but don't know how it would turn out.
One thing I have kept in mind is being able to get to them for up keep.
We just replaced the filter a few months ago and it's plastic instead of the fiber glass it use to be made of, the guy told my DH that the filter needed to be protected from the sun. That did not make me happy to hear.
Really we spend our hard earned money for junk now days that is not cheap to buy but cheap product's that don't last near as long.

Could you maybe enclose the pool stuff and the garbage can into a nice looking storage box with a gate/door so you could still get to it.

As for the aircon, I 2nd the lattice idea. I would enclose the 2 sides (pool side & front side) with lattice which would still 'hide' it but allow you to access it either from behind or on the fence side.

You can butt a walkway up against them so you don't step in the beds and plant out from there.

Barb, it is entirely possible to plant vines in planter boxes that can be moved along with the lattice if maintenance is needed. I have Blue Shell Pea vines in planters now, and they are as large as the inground ones.

Barb, we built a picket fence in front of our units. We let it stand away from the house and built it large enough a technition could squat inside it with room to work. That sounds big but sitting in a large bed like you are planing it won't be out of proportion.

The only other thing I might do with your plan(good visuals,by the way) is soften up some of the curves so they mow and look like curves and not wiggles. Make it as easy on yourself for maintenance as you can!LOL The plants will cover your little curves anyway in a short time.
Just my opinionated opinion.

Gail

Thank you for all the help. The wheels are spinning in my head.
One of the problem I forgot to mention was the were the A/C unit sit's is on a small slope so that has been my problem in getting an idea as how to go about it.

Gail, I think your right I had been thinking more smaller curves but yesterday I started thinking larger ones.

Guess if it was to easy it would be so much fun huh LOL.

I love the old metal chairs you have by your pool. I was visiting a garden in Frisco awhile back and this lady really had an eye for creating little vignettes in her garden. She would find old windows without the glass, paint them red or whatever color was attractive for the area and hang those on the fence. Then she would also hang a couple other things like a candle sconce or a little garden plaque then in front of that place an old chair. She had several of those old metal chairs she used in the design and you could sit in any of them. She also had an antique wash tub filled with flowers - lots of really neat ideas. Just wanted to pass that idea long to you to maybe incorporate something like that into your design.

This coming from my brother who is an HVAC technician - whatever you plant around your A/C unit - make sure it isn't prickly and keep it at least two feet away from the unit so they can get in to do repairs. So, when planting, consider the plant's mature size. Also, don't put anything near them that will have stuff that might get caught up in the unit and cause it to not run efficiently. Maybe something like compact nandinas that only get to about 4-5 feet tall would be a good screening plant. Just leave space for the technicians.

As far as the curves of the landscape borders go, make sure you can mow along them - no really sharp curves that would be difficult to maneuver the mower.

Planting anything around the A/C unit would be hard to do because theres not much space between the gate and the unit and I'm thinking that if I put up a lattice that it would make it hard to weedeat around it and DH doesn't not like the idea of more work on him, can't blame him for that.

I might just start with the right side and wait to see how it goes from there.

DH told me he likes the grass :( boohoo

Oh no, don't listen to your husband! I like the curves you laid out with the hose, a lot, but the mower is something to consider in tight spots. Bring your husband to the computer so we can talk to him!

missinformation, I like you :) your thinking my way

I have thought about having you all talk to him about this hehehehe.

Barb,
Is that white bricks or stones stacked up around the ac unit? How about using those to make a two tier re-taining wall on the slope of the ac unit. Then you could plant the tall grasses in the tiers or plant bamboo in pots (to keep down invasion) in the tiers.
Enclose the pool unit with a three sided lattice box and when maintenance is required all you have to do is pull it out. And instead of plants growing on the lattice, hang other stuff, i.e. like a window frame (mentioned earlier), hooks for towels, goggles, etc., plant pots to hold eye glasses/sun glasses, watches,suntan lotion, etc. You could even staple fabric on the back side that might help keep the noise down or put some on the front side and tie it back like a curtain.
The retaining wall and lattice work will also give your back yard some architectural interest.

I love the retaining wall idea. Changes in levels always look so nice and open up a whole other world when you start looking for plants.
the pool equipment /organizer unit sounds great. you could staple landscape fabric on the back and air could pass through . I had forgotten how loud pool pumps are as it has been years since I had one. the best thing that ever happend was when a building was built over it!

It doesn't have to be lattice. a frame of spaced alternating 1 x 4s and 1 x 6's or even fence pickets would give you some solid surface to screw hooks into. Roll on some fence stain that matches and you are set!

Good project and quite a nice addition to the serenity of the pool.

Gail