Pool area landscaping, help please ! ! !

13 years ago

I do have to plant trees or shrubs close to my pool for privacy reasons, so my question is, can anyone please tell me what kind of trees ( fast growing preferred ) would do well close to a pool in Ga, believe Zone 8 ?

I'm looking for plants which do not grow invasive roots and are not very messy ( planned on Grape Myrtle, but think that would be the worst choice )

Are Arborvitaes and ornamental grasses a good choice ?

Thanks for any suggestion and help with this.

Mokay

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Comments (7)

lookingforapool
13 years ago
We used oleander. They are growing REALLY fast. They can grow pretty high so that you can use them as hedges. The leaves are large enough so that they aren't troublesome to the pool, but so far we haven't even had one in the pool. You can get them with different colored flowers. (We chose white). The only downfall is that they are poisonous, so it's a no-go if you have small children or pets.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oleander picture
mokay
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Lookingforapool, we do have small children, so oleander is def. a no-go for us, I do love this plant a lot but won't use it with small kids,
anyway,
thanks,
mokay
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OK! Right plant, wrong species! That's why I asked where you were located. Maianthemum dilatatum is exclusive to the west coast. Wasn't aware there was an eastern version :-) And this is a wildflower - not necessarily a garden escapee. The tarp could help but it will also smother the grass. And it is not that effective for plants that spread rhizomatously (via underground stems). The rhizomes just keep growing to where the tarp doesn't cover and then pop up. Depending on how shady the area is, you might just want to encourage it and skip the lawn. Lawn grasses are difficult to encourage to lush growth in very shady locations and a shade loving groundcover - like this - is often recommended as a suitable replacement. Otherwise, containment would involve some sort of root barrier/edging at the edge of the lawn and some targeting herbicide applications. Any broadleaf weed killer for lawns should work well - the stuff can't tell between a 'weed' or any other type of broadleaved plant. Just spray individual leaves directly and be sure none gets on anything more valuable.
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One other maintenance related landscaping consideration is how much water fowl it might attract as it matures... mainly if you have creeks or ponds in your neighborhood. We're in the Richardson area less than a block away from a park with a normally duck-filled creek running through it. We originally had the bed along our raised pool edge planted with mostly evergreen 'Ballerina' Indian Hawthorn,'Edward Goucher' abelia, and dwarf pampas grass (that turned out to be a mis-tagged standard) which the local mallards loved for the heavy cover they provided during their February to June nesting window. Initially we loved their visits, but as many as three nesting pairs over a season more than tripled our pool chemical costs and maintenance efforts; after which, it was still tough to keep the pool clear. Also, the ducklings had a zero survival rate in our rabbit-proof backyard unless we could get them relocated in time... which never left Momma duck very happy. We've eliminated the problem (so far) by replacing the evergreens with deciduous and much less dense semi-evergreen plants. The bit of additional gardening work for the spring clean-up/pruning is tiny compared with the effort/cost of keeping a pool clean with mallards in residence. An inflatable gator kept on the pool also reduces their "house-hunting" visits, though pretty certain they would learn to ignore it if they found the surrounding foliage more appealing. The deciduous bed has been an evolving experiment since 2011, so has actually been more fun from a gardening perspective. Though I do occasionally miss the more formal look and low maintenance of the evergreens, I would never go back to them for a pool bed in a neighborhood with a significant duck population.
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I see a host of problems in your future. The space to screen the pool equipment is tight and you are not being realistic about the future size of the arborvitae. A tree at the fence is going to encroach on the pool as it gets large enough to provide privacy. I think I'd relocate the arborvitae to the fence and screen the pool equipment with a solid panel. Shrubs, ornamental grass or something along those lines could temper the end of the panel. At the first picture below, it seems the arborvitae is going to do little to screen off the width of the objectionable view beyond, or give privacy back from the same view. Small flowering trees made of large shrubs would give more interest. They'd still need some other shrubs (like those hydrangea your neighbor has) outside of the fence if you want privacy.)
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jasonlmarsh
13 years ago
I have Crepe Myrtles & Oleanders and both are pretty messy, I wouldn't put either of them near the pool. The Crepe's drop tiny flower petals all over the place, and they lose their leaves in the fall -through- spring so there goes the privacy for those months. I dont know how the Oleanders handle winters yet, as mine were just planted this year.
mokay
Original Author
13 years ago
@ jasonlmarsh, as much as I love the Crepe Myrtle, I can see the mess already, I m looking for something pretty, maybe an evergreen, maybe a cypress, but something what will def. make not a lot of mess and don't grow roots that will ruin my walls. I do have to plant something real close to the pool for privacy,right now I'm thinking more of an arborvitae also like the large grasses, I'm planning on stopping at our local nursey today, hope they have some ideas too,
thanks so much for you posting.
mokay
paradigmdawg
13 years ago
We used ornamental grasses along our raised wall and they look awesome. In the picture they were freshly planted and small but they went from about 3" tall to about 3ft tall in about a week!!!!!
mokay
Original Author
13 years ago
@paradigmdawg,
what a beautiful pool.....love the shape......

love your planter too...after your pics I'm pretty sure ornamental grasses will do well around my pool too and I think the wheater here in Atlanta is perfect aswell,
where are you located ?
what kind of grass did you go with,is that bermuda, it looks so thick....?
Thanks for sharing your beuatiful pictures.
best,
mokay
paradigmdawg
13 years ago
Thanks.

We live in North Texas. Grass is Tifway 419 Bermuda.

Pool area landscaping, help please ! ! !

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Pool area landscaping, help please ! ! !

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