With or with a water feature, a backyard pool is an incredible addition to your house. Unfortunately, immediately after the contractor leaves, your yard will probably be more of a muddy mess than a personal oasis. The good thing is that the right landscaping can add privacy and beauty whilst creating the pool and also the living room around it feel like an extension of your property rather than a separate space. The key to pool landscaping would be to look closely at the form and manner of the pool along with some water features, replicating elements of the styles in the design around the pool. Tall Water features, for instance, could be paired with tall plants, while long, flat waterfalls may be mirrored with small rows of hedge shrubs. The most important factor, however, would be to stick to plants and bits which make whatever look you like.
Install pool lighting, if desired, until you landscape the area around the pool. Doing so will stop the need to dig your landscaping up later to run electrical wiring.
Incorporate the pool fencing in your landscape design. Most municipalities need pools to be completely fenced in. If your fence will be situated in which it is possible to see it in the pool, then either choose a style that will work with your design or camouflage the fence using plants or other screening. You could also plant clean, evergreen hedges of cypress (Cupressus), boxwood (Buxus), juniper (Juniperus) or yew (Taxus) as fence cover-up.
Surround the area immediately adjacent to the pool using smooth hardscaping if it is not surrounded by concrete. Flagstone, brick, and concrete pavers are all substances which are clean, attractive and easy to bare feet.
Plant trees, shrubs and perennials around the pool and at adjacent flower beds which are known for using leaves too large to get stuck in pool filters or water feature pumps. Choose plants which produce as small litter as possible. Some good candidates include shoestring acacia (Acacia stenophylla), Australian willow (Geijera parviflora), Japanese aralia (Fatsia japonica), red-hot poker (Kniphofia uvaria) along with lily turf (Liriope). Ornamental grasses also do well poolside.
Lay bud barrier around the plantings and mulch the beds using pea gravel or other smaller stones as opposed to bark mulch, which may blow in the pool.
Add lounge chairs, tables, benches and other outdoor furniture to fill out the appearance and give you a cozy spot to sit down and enjoy your landscaping.