Hello all,

My pool was finished 2 months ago and I'm in the process of getting the landscaping done. If you remember the yard has a bit of a slope -- so I have terrased an area with keystone walls (verazzo). I am trying to pick out plants and wanted some advice:

I'll have 2-3 trees around the grass - at least one of them near the pool (but not over the pool). I like the following, but need your opinions:

1) Chinese Elm: Moderate root growth. Good growth. deciduous . Low water. Nice looking.

2) Chitalpa: Low Root Growth. Drops flowers (and fruit?). Deciduous.

I'd like a nice shade tree that's evergreen that stays clean with minimal roots -- it may not exist....

I am also looking for two small trees for some smaller planters. They will be kept small. I have some ornamental cherry trees in the front now that are great (small fruit you can eat, but fairly tasteless). I'd like somehting different, but if I have to I'll put in a few more of these. They keep shaped into a ball quite nicely and have dense growth.


Thanks!

Steve


I'll get some pictures out soon.

Well the basic rule is this: the closer the tree to the pool the larger the leaves should be. Trees with smaller leaves are more prone to fall and clog the drains. Trees with larger leaves fall much less and when they do they are easier to remove or less prone to blow in the wind. Trees with fruits are to be avoided. For good choices think palms, bananas, birds of paradise, Hollies and magnolias. Avoid Oaks like the plague. Only use Crape Myrtles, Oaks, Elms, Cherry, Dogwood if you must on the predominant down wind side of the pool.

Brian

I have a Chinese Elm near my pool and I can't encourage you enough NOT to plant one. This is the worst tree to have next to a pool. It drops all kinds ****.

Have you looked at Australian Willows (Geijera parviflora). These are great looking trees and don't drop much and should be fine in your area.

Thank you both -- it's hard to know what is to be avoided looking at a little tree at the store.

My wife likes the ornamenta purple-leaf plum tree -- I like it also. it does lose its leaves, but any experiencfe with how messy it is?

We have a carrotwood tree in the front yard -- beautiful evergreen tree with small roots. It does, however, drop dry seedpods all over. I guess almost every tree has some faults. I love the ficus trees (shiny deep gree leaves, evergreen, nice shade), but their roots will destroy everything around and they freeze easily.

ps. I feel a special pleasure graduating from the pool build forums to the landscape/yard forums.

Thanks,

Steve

Oh, I forgot to mention -- if you're looking at trees, a great resource is:

http://selectree.calpoly.edu/

(from my college)

you can sort by leaf size, color, zone, size, latin or common name, fire resistance, root damage, etc.

Steve

Steve,

Thanks for the link. I also went to Poly and am looking for landscaping.

Kevin

Kevin -- I graduated in '92 -- loved that city.


My backyard landscaping (at least the first phase) is coming along well. The gravity walls are in, the sprinklers finished and most of the plants planted. The grass should go in this week. I need to get the electrician out to wire in a few outlets from the Intelitouch panel ( I had a circuit pulled for these earlier) and to re-wire the septic pump controller (needs to be relocated from the middle of the future lower patio to a more hidden spot).

I ended up putting in a number of trees I already have in the front yard:

- A pair of ornamental cherry trees -- shape nicely.

- a Carrotwood tree (evergreen, but drops seed pods)

- An ornamental plumb -- nice purple leaves.

- a multi-trunk (bush like) crape myrtle -- I love these trees. No roots, colorfull. Yes they drop their leaves, but I'll deal with that -- they can stay pretty small.


The rest of the plantings are pretty varried -- lots of different things. Again, I looked at our front yard and whatever was still alive had a pretty good chance of not dying in the back yard either!

I know, I know -- you want pictures. I've been working 7 days/week for a while now and have not had but a few dusk hours to see the yard in the light . I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow.

Steve

Ok,

Pictures for the masses:

A little History:
The back yard was very difficult to get a pool into because of the slope. The yard was at about a 20% slope. We build a five foot retaining wall for the pool and have terraced an area for a lawn. The plants/trees are mostly in and the grass should show up this next week.

If you are interest in the pool build:
stever-s-pool-build-t4133.html

PICTURES:

Before the pool/landscaping:




With the retaining wall for the pool


Little planter in the pool deck:


Gravity walls behind pool:


Grassy area (grass not in yet) next to pool:




Future grassy area from the other angle (from the pool):


The view from the house and low patio:


From up on the hill:




Enjoy! (I am )

Steve

Steve, it is absolutely beautiful!

You did have some big challenges in your yard, but you won!

Thanks for the update!

Thanks! I'll get some pics with grass posted over the weekend.
Steve

Ok, here are the (almost) finished landscape pictures. The patio below (up against the house) is yet to happen, but except for that and some planters in that area, we're pretty much done.

Pictures of the grassy area:


Taken toward the pool:


From the pool gate:


From the future patio below: (don't be fooled by the fake grass carpet on the future steps)


Wall behind the pool toward the pool equipment (sprinkler controller & pool electronics visible). The chainlink in this area is temporary and will be replaced with mathching fencing and a gate to the pool equipment:


Grassy sloped area begind the pool:




I may regret the grassy sloped area behind the pool -- it threatens run-off problems (yes ,it is drained) and grass clippings in the pool. It just seemed like a good idea to have a grassy area inside of the pool fence and the slope not only was already there, but creates a sot or ampetheater type of thing looking down on the pool. When I get the gate and fence modified near the equipment, I'll have another gate added so I can get a mower into this area w/o having to run it up the steps at the pool.

Soooo close.....

Steve

The back patio was poured today. Same color and texture as the pool deck. It's a load of concrete, but that's wat we wanted -- space for chairs, parties, etc. The grass is just above. I'll have to wait until the weekend to see it during the daylight and get a picture posted. As far as i can see now, though, it looks good (still has the color/release powder on though).

That pretty much finishes off the project except for pergolas/trellises. I don't know when these will be built... Maybe this spring... depends on the economy...

Now I have to replant some hedges in the front some punk kid drove over at midnight last week

Steve

Nice job on the landscaping. It looks wonderful.

I was wondering if you provide a few details about your coping/decking. I am looking at something similar with some renovations that I am going to do. It looks like a grouted stone coping (travertine?) and then stamped concrete with some sort of stain or sealer on it. How thick is the concrete? Did you use rebar or WWF? Stone base thickness? Just curious.

Thanks,

Riles

Sure thing. The coping is a travertine stone. It's 'tumbled' not the honed. At first I liked the honed as it was very uniform, smooth, and, well -- perfect looking. But I felt it in the showroom and figured it would be very slipprey wet because it was so smooth. The tumbled does not have all of the natural pits filled in and has a rougher (but not rough) surface and slightly rounded corners. The larger pits (and there were just a few) can be filled with the grout no problem. There is a good amount of color variation - which I liked. I didn't like the fact that when I did the stair treads on the deck all of the stones were quite a bit lighter (different lot). I used a grout that matched pretty well and a 'tan' mastic to the deck.

The deck is 5" concrete with #3 at 12" each way at the center. I'm a structural engineer and just hate cracked concrete. To me it was worth the extra few $$ for a better slab. It has a color in the concrete mix, and another darker color used in the release powder at the time of the stamping. After it's all done, the deck is acid washed untill the right mix of the two colors is achieved. It's preference how much darker 'highlights' one wants, but it really make is look good. I picked a stone texture on the concrete. Not a true stamp, but more of a rubber matt they push the relieve into tho concrete with. I love the look and it works well with curved areas like my deck. It's tough to stamp rectangular patterns into a smaller area, as the edges have to be created manually (stamp would hit forms).

Under the slab I have compated soil (mostly natural D.G. with some clay) and an inch or so of sand.

It's not sealed yet, but I'll do both at once when the lower patio is about 30 days old.

Steve

Is the sand the top layer? Will this help to prevent cracks in the concrete? A landscaper told me that he uses D.G. as the top layer to prevent cracks.

Is 5" of concrete less likely to crack than 4"?

Sand is on top of the compacted soil -- it can help keep moisture from weeping through from the bottom and aid curing of the concrete. For a deck, though, just make sure whatever is below the concrete is well compacted.

Don't use wire mesh -- you will regret it. Use rebar #3 at 18" as a minimum.

Concrete can be very very strong if correctly reinforced, thick enough (4" minimum, 4.5" or 5" is better), and the right mix design (ask for 3000 psi concrete). If all of these things are right and there are enough joints and a good soil below it should be very crack free for a long time.

Steve

OK, better late than never.

Here's the pictures of the patio after it was poured and acid washed 2-3 times. I'll get it sealed in a week of so.

From the upper lawn:


From Below:


Grassy slope right behind pool:


The whole back yard:


The circular area that is in the patio will have groundcover. It is where there are three septic cleanouts. I planned the shape around them -- a fourth cleanout was made much smaller and has a patio level poured concrete lid to match the patio -- you don't really even notice it. You can barely see it in the first picture (interrupts the joint in the concrete).

Next are two shade structures -- one up at the pool and one down near the house. Any ideas? I'd love to see pictures of what any of you have done. Pergola/trellis, etc. Thanks,

Steve

wow, that looks amazing...your own private resort!!!
I would love for our landscaping to look like that

congrats!!!
chris

Thanks! We like it. Amazing how we lived without a backyard (just dirt) for 5 years before we could get this all to happen. It takes a lot of planning (and a swift kick from the wife!).

Steve

One more question for you. Is your textured conrete slippery? I'm sure the texture helps quite a bit, but I'm curious to hear how it is in action.

Riles