Thanks guys! I do so love the flowering trees and plants, leaves coming down in the fall, the coating of yellow pine pollen in the spring..... Ahhhhhhhhh! (The first two are true, not the last one) In fact I told the landscape designer when we first met that I would love a cottage/English garden thing for our pool area. Oooops. Now I see why palm trees are so popular around pools. I'm going to make a big sign "No Flowering Trees" and place it on the kitchen table where we meet today. Maybe then I won't be lured into a potential disaster.
I am very curious about what she has come up with for us. To be hopeful, when she made her first site visit, she immediately said the crepe myrtle in the back had to come down because of too much trash/debris from the tree. I'm fine with that. We unwisely planted it 26 years ago in the far back corner to hide the telephone pole (like we wouldn't see the guide wires across the back of the yard????). So every couple of years, the power company has to trim it back from the wires. Poor designer, I gave her impossible requests: give our backyard the appearance of multi-leveled grading (it's totally flat); give me the English Garden look (could there be a more pool unfriendly garden????); and make it all low maintenance (seriously, Suz, what WERE you thinking????). It sounds like I don't know anything about gardening. I actually do, but I think since I'm finally getting one of my dreams, a pool, why not go for it all, right?!!
I do have one tree that I desperately want to keep. It's a saucer magnolia or aka a tulip tree. It's not a huge tree, and it hugs the house out my bedroom window. It does have lots of petals which drop in February. My mom gave that to me before she passed. Maybe I can rig up a net between it and the pool for the couple of weeks the petals drop. And I guess again in the fall when the leaves drop. Or... maybe after a season with the pool and the tree, I can find another way to "Remember Mama"!! (aren't you guys going to have fun watching me 'grow up' with a pool and all my unrealistic expectations???)
One more thing: I also requested a Texas Mountain Laurel go in the back to replace the 3 trees I've lost. If you have first hand experience with the Mountain Laurels, let me know what you think. From what I've read, it wouldn't be too bad. And have you ever smelled the blooms???? The fragrance is amazing! It's like intense grape kool-aid. (Grape drinks are my favorite.) Plus, I'm sentimental about Mountain Laurels since they're native to central Texas. Hmmmmm, maybe another net will be needed!
Keep the advice/suggestions coming - as you can see, I need the reality checks! Take care! Suz.