Let me know your specific needs and I'd love to talk Texas gardening!! I tend to do a lot of native planting for ease, I'm not fond of planting and buying again and again, so I prefer plants that will return year after year, though many do die back each winter. I always supplement with fun annual color but try to get a good baseline of natives that I can count on and that will emerge early and take over. Is the bed you are planning shaded or sun? Is is near the pool or actually next to it? I have one bed directly next to mine and haven't noticed any ill effects from the salt water, which was one of my concerns. I'd mostly avoid things that shed leaves or blossoms (like crepe myrtle can be a mess too close to a pool) in large quantities. One of my favorite plants is the native hibiscus (the ones with the dinner plate size blossoms, huge and red), I just love them, along with yellow bells, plumbago. Pride of Barbados are spectacular near a pool and look very tropical, just don't assume they are dead each spring, they are late to emerge. Chaste trees are fun and can be trained to be smaller, and I tend to find lots of things that butterflies prefer, like passionflower and such (in fact I plant several things ONLY for the caterpillars to come munch). I do some herb gardening too, and those can be beautiful and functional, echinacea does well, rosemary and sage, etc, all are pretty and useful. Let me know when you're planting, I'll give my 2cents.

When did you start to notice issues with the surface? Was it always rough? Scott

I am wondering how the steel blue stands up to time (fade, etc.). Does anyone here have any pictures of the steel blue and if so, what are your thoughts on going with this color? I am days away from having to choose a color for my own pool. Thanks!

We had our diamondbrite installed 2 weeks ago. I'm sure cool blue and super blue are nice. My pb seemed to like mixing colors, as did at least one other of the pb's that we had interviewed. We ended up using a mix of 8 tahoe blue, 1 midnight blue, and 1 onyx. I had looked at one that our pb did with a similar recipe, but decided we wanted ours a little darker, hence our recipe. I *think* I'm satisfied with our DB. It's not perfect, and has gotten closer to an even finish with brushing. I didn't expect this color to be mottle-free, and it's not. Of course, who knows what it will look a few years down the road? We plan on managing our water chemistry closely using bbb, so hopefully we can maintain it's color/texture. How long before you have to make a decision? Do you have a sample to look at? Steve