Swimming Pool Landscaping Ideas and Inspiration

Spending your summer days relaxing by the pool is one of the most enjoyable ways to enjoy the season. To take your pool game to the next level, you want your pool landscaping to project the feeling of a private oasis. Landscaping, décor, and furniture you choose for your swimming pool should make it feel like you are always on a vacation every time you go to your backyard. To help you make your pool the ultimate escape, here are our swimming pool landscaping ideas.

Swimming Pool Landscaping Plants

Choosing the plants that will border your swimming pool and provide a rich element to your relaxation goes further than strictly visual aesthetic. You have to start your plant selection based on practicality for people who will be enjoying your pool.

Eliminate in plants that have spines or thorns from your swimming pool landscaping.
Avoid plants that shed needles, leaves, cones, or any other debris that will make keeping your pool clean a hassle.
Try to choose plants that bloom in the early spring or late fall. The pollination time should be during periods where the pool is not in heavy use so you don’t have bees and other bugs swarming the pool area in the summer.

These qualifications will narrow your options considerably when choosing swimming pool landscaping plants. Next you need a variety of plant types including bushes, small trees, and flowers. To give you an idea, some of the most popular swimming pool plants are:

Hibiscus
Bamboo
Day Lilies
Echeveria Coccinea
Palm Trees including Cycads and Sago Palm
Apaganthus
Golden Euonymus
Agave
Bird of Paradise
Creeping Jenny
Papyrus
Aloe
Yucca

Having a Kansas City landscaping contractor choose and arrange the types of swimming pool plants that will border your oasis is the best way to get a professional design.

Pool Design Ideas

Your swimming pool landscaping goes beyond the plants that border your pool area. It is also about the elements of design including construction of the pool, shade, and sun areas. It is important to have professional pool contractors help you plan the design of the swimming pool itself based on your vision and space available in your backyard. A pool contractor can also recommend other elements that would provide a visual aesthetic as well as practical functions for people who want the sun or the shade. Some of our favorite pool elements include:

A pergola provides a private conversation area that can help pool guests escape from the intensity of the sun.
The poolside deck area should have plenty of furniture and a natural stone floor that does not get as hot as concrete.
Large natural stone blocks provide a richer sense of vacation and can act as a diving board platform.
If there is room, adding a hot tub next to the pool is a perfect way to incorporate more relaxation opportunities.

You can also find inspiration for your swimming pool design by investigating Houzz, like this story with 19 spectacular pools around the world.