Thanks everyone for the feedback. I did some googling of Crepe Myrtle trees near pools. I found several articles saying DO NOT PLANT Crepe Myrtles near pools. And how messy they are. But I haven't found much on if putting a pool near existing Crepe Myrtles is a crazy idea! In case you can't tell from my pic, it is a grouping of 3 multi-trunk crepe myrtles. They are probably 30-40' high with a pretty large canopy. I don't think it will be possible to transplant the trees as ncrealestateguy proposed. They must span across 15' due to their multi-trunk shape. We put some flags in the yard today. We could take off one forward reaching large branch, and do some selective pruning to get the limbs off the proposed pool area. That wouldn't help blowing debris, but might help things on a daily basis. The PB was already mentioning In-Floor Cleaning system. Is that going to help this situation? And be worth the extra $$? What about pool covers? PB said a retractable one would be in the neighborhood of $10k. Does this sound right?

I am going for the 12-16 ft look with the tops pruned every year.Ive actually got 10 of these that big and love them.The whites and light purple ones are the faster growing ones..The reds and pinks are alot slower growers and not quite as big/broad as the white and purple ones..I learned how to prune them myself instead of "crepe murdering" them...Once they established like I wanted them I quit pruning them..Well this summer I had such big blooms that the tops started falling down from the top cause the thin branches couldnt hold the weight. It was fine but after a big rain they started doing this..So this year I will start pruning the tops again to prevent this.All these I transplanted are the white ones which will grow pretty fast. 8 yrs ago when I planted the big ones I did a white, dark pink and a purple about 20 ft apart.Did it again for 6 that looks like a rainbow when they bloom.Of course the white and purple always bloom first and then usually the dark pink begins a month later to form this rainbow look in my front yard. In a perfect world I wish they all would bloom the same time and I wish the dark pinks where as big/broad as the whites and purples but oh well. It still looks nice.

It is bermuda, either TIF 419 or Celebration. The reason it is not doing well in the shade is that it requires 6 hours of full sun to do well. If you see it thinning over most of the lawn, you may as well get started now with St Augustine. St Aug will grow with 6 hours of filtered sunlight and still look okay. In full sun it is very dense, but tolerates shade to a great extent. Do not overseed it with rye. I know many people in your area do that, but the result in the spring is that the bermuda revival is delayed by weeks and sometimes months. It can affect the turf for the rest of the season. Bermuda should have the following care: Water deeply and infrequently. See more below. Mulch mow at the mower's lowest setting. If the lowest setting scalps the lawn into circles, then you have leveling issues. Mowing 2x per week can be necessary to keep it down. Fertilize monthly throughout the growing season with a high N, low to zero P and K, fertilizer. Spot spray weeds in April and September. Spray for insects as necessary and not in anticipation of problems. Spray for disease almost never. Bermuda is very disease resistant. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. If you want to convert to St Augustine, you can do that either the fast way ($$$$) or the slow way ($). The fast way is to kill everything and sod again with St Augustine. The slow way is to buy a couple pieces ($10 total) of St Augustine and place them in the shadiest parts of the lawn. Dig out the bermuda that's already there so the roots of the new sod can get a grip. Keep that sod moist until it knits in. Then just go with it. St Augustine will grow out 15 feet per year in all directions. The first year you will have sparse runners. The second year those runners will fill in and become very dense while continuing to send more runners out 15 feet. The St Augustine will completely overrun the bermuda. St Augustine should have the following care: Water deeply and infrequently as above. Mulch mow at the mower's HIGHEST setting ALWAYS. You can let it go 2 or 3 weeks before mowing. Fertilize once in late May, once in early September, and again in late fall after it completely stops growing. Spot spray weeds in April and September. Atrazine is the only herbicide that works. Spray for insects as necessary and not in anticipation of problems. St Aug can get disease, but if you water as stated, that should be minimal. Note that St Aug needs much less attention during the year than bermuda does.

Thanks all for the insights - sounds like I should avoid Natchez. Which I what I initially was thinking prior to having such a damn hard time finding the 'Acoma' variety here locally in the Bay Area of California. "Find a myrtle that will fit your space" is proving to be easier said than done. I have designed moonlight garden so a white myrtle is part of the plan vs the other gorgeous pink/red varieties. Will continue the search for an 'Acoma'. All online sources seem to be sold out :(