Many people in Carroll County, and around Maryland, are opening up their pools for the year, so we at Westminster Lawn Landscape Supply Yards wanted to post an article with some landscaping ideas around pools.

How to create a beautiful waterscape…

A swimming pool can be the social centerpiece to the summer for your friends and your family, so it’s worth putting that extra effort into making it a beautiful and inviting waterscape.

Mulch and landscape stone can turn your pool into an attractive garden space, making your yard into the perfect summer hangout, however you should make sure you’re using the right materials, in the right kind of combination.

What is the best landcape material to use around a pool?

While mulch is a great landscaping material for placing around plants, be careful not to place a mulched area too close to the water. It can be very effective to have mulched plant life around the perimeter of your pool, as a transition from the pool to your lawn, but take into consideration what happens when gusty winds blow.

[quote]Make sure there’s enough distance, and preferably a buffer of landscape stone, statuary, and even a fence to ensure that mulch won’t blow into your pristine pool water.[/quote]

Landscaping Ideas Around Pools With Concrete

1” Pure Red Landscape Stone, with its deep brick red color, blends well with other accents at this home. This particular setting has ample concrete immediately bordering the water, providing a smooth walking area.

Between the concrete paving and the lawn, you can create a hardscape wall filled with the decorative red stone, which provides drainage from water runoff from the concrete.

If you have a retaining wall, or fenced border, you can finish this off further with another bed of red stone to allow for easier mowing along the fence line.

Landscaping Ideas Around Pools Without Concrete

Different pool settings will have different needs. Areas without concrete, that may come into contact with bare feet, will require a smoother, rounded stone. Brown Landscape Stone is another option, but it is recommended that you use a larger size, either 1” or 2”, which will be less likely to blow when using a hand blower to clean leaves and debris from the beds. The smallest size, ½”, is also referred to as Pea Gravel, and would be too small to use a hand blower to clean out debris.

A very popular option is River Jacks, which are multi-colored and smooth, and lend a very tasteful appearance to waterscape settings. Besides their natural beauty, these smooth rounded stones are easy on bare feet, as well.

Be sure to prep the area where the beds will be by removing or killing all weeds with an herbicide like Roundup. Then lay a thick black landscaping plastic down and spread the stone 3” – 4” deep. The beds will be easy to maintain and provide many years of landscaping beauty.

Choosing the Right Plants for your Waterscape

Consider plants that won’t produce a great deal of debris for your planting. Common choices include upright yews, which do not have large leaves, but shed fine needles, instead. Blue rug junipers are another low-growing option.

Shrubbery should be pruned in fall or early spring while plants are dormant, and the cover is still on your pool. Errant weeds that pop up can be hand-weeded or sprayed with Roundup.

Hand weeding leaves a cleaner appearance, but be sure to get the roots, or they will return. An herbicide will kill the entire weed down to the roots, and the dead weed debris can be removed later.