swimming pool landscaping

Swimming Pool Landscaping

I am looking for a very large tree to provide shade for my pool area. I am in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, and the back of my home faces west; so as you can imagine, I am in dire need of some shade. I have some ideas in mind – Red Oak, Shumard Oak, or some sort of Elm. My fear is that the roots will damage my pool underground. Do any of these varieties have an extensive root system that I should worry about?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We don’t recommend using large trees to landscape your swimming pool area. The trees that have non-invasive roots tend to grow very slowly. You’ll be waiting a long time before you’ll get much shade.

Instead, we suggest installing an arbor or a pergola on the western edge of your pool. A climbing evergreen vine on the structure will fill it in and give you additional shade.

Besides considering invasive root systems, here are some other tips for planting around your swimming pool:

• Choose only evergreen trees and shrubs so you won’t have to clean leaves from your pool (but watch out for pine trees that shed pinecones and needles). Hollies are one good alternative.


• Stay away from flowering trees and shrubs or flowers that attract bees.


• Avoid fruit-bearing trees and shrubs as they will also attract bees.

The garden style you want should also be taken into account when considering landscape options around your swimming pool. Here are a couple of examples:

• For a tropical look, use palms like excelsior palms, because they aren’t huge or messy.


• For a more natural pond-like swimming pool, ornamental grasses are beautiful because of their texture and the way they sway in the breeze.

Related Articles

Landscape Around Your Swimming Pool
Tips for Buying Plants Online

Related Pictures

Swimming Pools

Buy Plants for Swimming Pool Landscaping From:

Spring Hill Nursery has been a leading developer, researcher, and provider of perennial gardens since 1849. Since its inception, Spring Hill has been America's Favorite Mail Order Garden Center.


No organization has more knowledge about which bulbs grow and bloom best in all sections of the U.S. than Breck's. They take advance reservations, and then just as soon as the crops are harvested, the staff of Dutch Bulb Experts makes an on-the-spot selection of the finest bulbs available to fill those reservations.

Dutch Gardens For nearly a century, Dutch Gardens has been supplying Holland's finest bulbs and plants to beautify gardens throughout the U.S.