In our hot climate a swimming pool is highly inviting addition to any landscape. Children can be amused for hours, calories can be worked off, and, with all the decorative styles available today, themes and focal points can center around a beautiful pool. Pools used to come in a variety of rectangular shapes with bright turquoise colored bottoms. Now they are limited only by the imagination of the designer. Swimming pools can not only be useful and fun they can be the centerpiece of a lovely garden. But what you plant around your pool makes a big difference. You can destroy the success of even the most beautiful pool by planting plants that can ruin its design or even damage its structure.
You can have a swimming pool company design your pool, do some sketches of what you want by yourself, bring in an architect or ask for some concepts from a designer who understands the basics of pool design. Always have a licensed professional do the installation.

Make sure that the pool is not considered a single event floating in a detached manner from your landscape. I prefer to design out the full property lot and deal with the pool detail as a focal point once the overall concept is in place. This way you only need to decide the basic shape of the pool in the context of the overview. It is best to install your pool before most other features of the landscape because the need for heavy machinery and soil compaction can be very destructive to surrounding spaces. But try not to drop in the pool without considering the design of the surrounding space or you might regret its placement later. Convenience is extremely important. You want to position a pool where it is viewable easily from both indoors and outdoors for safety reasons. It must also be easily accessible. It can become the focal point of your garden if it well designed or it can work with other features to create a whole ambience. You may want spaces for shade around the pool or utility areas for changing clothes or storage. Hiding all the unsightly utilities is a must yet the different forms of achieving this can vary enormously in cost. If you have a large piece of property, you may want to create paths to other areas like sport courts, meditation or rose gardens or barbecue areas. All the surrounding events will flow nicely if planned in advance. Drainage is a major concern. Not only do you want your property to drain properly in heavy rain, but should there be some unexpected event that allows your pool to overflow, you certainly want to be sure the water drains away from your home or any other important structure.
Safety also must be considered. Since there are all sorts of codes dealing with swimming pools, you will probably have to construct things like safety fences that may not be what you had in mind when it comes to design impact. By planning the whole area before installing the pool, you can take any building issues that might not add to your vision and blend them into the design so the function remains but the negative visual impact is minimized. Placing gardens, trees, decorative structures and objects like rocks, sculptures and fountains can blend any practical contrivances into the overall design of both pool and landscape. Yet these elements have to be balanced with safety, practicality and a view as to how living things will grow in later in the future. A good landscape is like any good painting. It should be a piece of art – a piece of art that is painted with practical and useful events as well as color, texture and beauty. Consider the whole canvas/view, not just one feature like the pool. You can use the design of the pool to suggest materials for the rest of the landscape or you can go the other way around and let the style of your landscape set the mood for the pool design. Either way they should be complimentary and work together functionally.
An example might be deciding on a native-looking rock theme like using Vasquez rocks. Angled brown colored rocks can be sculpted into the pool, then actual brown sandstone rocks can be grouped and set at similar layers and angles throughout the garden to emphasize focal points, entries or to give a surface for sprawling or climbing plants to scramble over. The repetition of this rock motif throughout the landscape will create a soothing and unifying effect even if you choose to plant different areas with contrasting looks.
Consider practicality around your swimming pool, too. Try to avoid little tiny pocket gardens that look good when they are first put in but are difficult to maintain since plants tend to die out easily or overgrow the limited space. We get impressive winds predictably in the autumn so if you want to grow plants in containers, choose heavy cement pots that are less likely to be blown into the pool with powerful wind gusts. Keep a lower profile to plants placed out where winds can pick them up by planting shorter, mounding flowers. It really isn’t much fun fishing out sodden shrubs with mud soaked roots from the bottom of the pool!
Using evergreen plants and trees will minimize leaf drop into the swimming pool. The more flowers, the more petals will be available to be shed. Most cleaners in pools can handle the light dusting of flower petals, but big leaves, pine needles and berries can choke up even good systems. Definitely avoid pine trees poolside whenever possible. To keep dust down you may want to mulch gardens that are near water. Gravel or stones are less likely to blow around whereas bark is the most likely to skitter off in windy weather. Pea gravel is softer on the feet and easier to dig through, but it can kick loose and end up on the pavement or in the pool. Three quarter inch gravel stays in place better and you can find it in an assortment of colors. Other forms of stone, like flagstone pieces or river rock are more decorative. You might want to place a layer of weed block beneath gravel or rock to keep maintenance even easier.
Be very careful about your choice of trees near the pool or any paved area. Not only can there be an issue with falling leaves clogging pipes, but larger trees can put out roots that can crack through even heavy layers of cement. Select trees with well behaved root systems or make sure the trees are planted with root barriers and a reasonable distance from concrete structures. There are many choices available with smaller trees that have less invasive roots and still offer shade and beauty. Some trees also drop fruits and berries that can stain pavements. Make sure you don’t get carried away with how pretty a small tree looks. A lot of Camphor trees are being planted close to the edges of pools because they are evergreen and gracefully lovely when young. These trees with grow very large in a matter of years and will not only out-grow their spaces and look disproportionate, but could cause damage to the cement around them if not given sufficient room for root growth. You might want to keep most trees planted back a bit from your swimming pool and opt for building a structure for shade rather than depending on trees. A well built shade structure by your pool can function as a cooking or eating area, a cabana for changing or an outdoor room for lounging. It will not grow drop leaves or threaten your pool and it can be used practically. Trees are beautiful, offer shade and are fabulous assets to our landscapes. Just be sure to think it through thoroughly before planting them too close to your swimming pool!
Others concerns in choosing the plants for around your pool might involve avoiding prickly or sharp plants close to scantily clad bodies. Some plants attract more bees than others and attracting bees is often a good thing for setting fruit, getting seeds and the ecology in general. Having a lot of bees getting trapped on the surface of your pool water is not. And if you are likely to be hosting a lot of children – especially small children – in or around your pool, you may want to avoid most poisonous plants.
Keep in mind these considerations when landscaping around a swimming pool.   There are many wonderful plants that can transform your swimming pool area into the beautiful magical place it deserves to be. The plants you choose should reflect the style of the pool. By creating a tropical feel, a woodsy environment, a desert-scape or any other style, you can blend the pool hardscape with the softscape of the plants and create a whole retreat to enjoy. There are plants to fit any style, color preference and mood. Just do your homework, or call in someone for help when it comes to selection the plants that not only will thrive and look beautiful in the given environment, but will grow in harmoniously over the years to come.