I'd be tempted to build a wooden deck around the pool. Those rocks would be killer on bare feet! Decks look great with lounge chairs, and a chest to hold pool toys. My zone is much hotter than yours, so not sure what grows in your area. I'd choose plants that don't shed. Nothing worse than a lot of leaves in the pool. Don't pick plants that attract bees. We have sago palms, society garlic, a couple low shrubs, and pine trees. The pines are a good distance from the pool, so they don't drop their cones or needles anywhere near the pool. Good luck!

Around the pool will be 3 feet concrete..and then 10 feet to the fence as per township regulations. So between the fence and the concrete we were thinking of flowers...shrubs...or trees with rocks. Also we were thinking of extending the concrete to the back of the house for the lounge area, table. Next year we will be getting rid of the deck and doing one level with an outdoor kitchen, grill sink bar with a pergola or roof. Any suggestions are more than welcome!

Lizzie Borden, Embothrium is commenting that he doesn't like my limbed up trees, or at least the way I draw them. I guess he doesn't realize they are only a general idea, not a specific, literal representation. One must decide if one wishes to allow lower foliage to remain. I wouldn't because it begins to consume a large amount of the yard space and in a skinny strip of land, lower foliage soon overwhelms the space. The view is already screened at the lower level by the fence. There is not really any need to screen the fence with shrubbery, but breaking up its long expanse with arrays of tree trunks adds interest. Since the suggestion is not about any specific "tree," I don't know get the remark about bark. We don't even know what the bark would be, or what it would look like. I happen to think all well tended tree trunks are attractive, though. No, I'm not suggesting hollies or any specific plant, I'm suggesting a general form and size and hoping you'll explore what the possibilities for it are that work in your area with your conditions (deer, sun, moisture, soil, etc. ... more than I can know about.) Also, you can explore the plant finish possibilities (flowering, foliage, bark, etc.) until you find what appeals to you.

For screening, N willow bush seems not tall, so it and arborvitae aren't remotely close in nature. I'd be reluctant to try something you previously lost, unless conditions will change. You have to determine the cause of problem first. Can it be corrected, or do you need to adapt the plants to it ...? Learn if the soil leans acid, alkaline, or neutral. On an unrelated subject, do you recall we once discussed increasing the number of trunks on a tree, I think in relation to some redbuds you had? As an example, I then posted a picture of a crape myrtle that I flat cut to the ground for the purpose of increasing trunks (it was stubs in the dirt), with the objective in my case of going to the max in number of trunks. (I think you were after a half-dozen or so main trunks.) When I cut the crape it had about 15 trunks. It came back with about 45. Since then, I've never cut any that developed as the tree enlarged. A few more came from the base, but mostly they branch as they grow taller and I've kept them all. There must be 125 (just guessing) at the top now. It reached about 11' height at end of last year. I will cut to 10' which is where the permanent canopy will begin. There is still lots of canopy below that now, but it is being contained mainly within the trunk profile. As the canopy grows ever larger, above 10', what remains below will gradually be removed until it is nothing but bare trunks. (This tree is at my mom's place in a snowbird mobile home park.) At some point, where trunks abut one another, they will fuse into a single, solid mass, which I look forward to seeing. Hope I am not Corona'd away before then. I'll add another picture after it leaves out, which has recently just started. (To now, though it has canopy, it has no permanent head yet. It will be on top of what you see.)