Love the pool, hate the mulch. What do you recommend?

[Clyde]

Hello. I am in year 3 of my pool and I really like it. Unfortunately, as you can see in the picture, where is a planting bed on the left, that has mulch in it (along with four grasses that did not survive the winter). In the foreground, is a VERY active Lab/Retriever mix, who loves to lay in the aforementioned mulch, and kick the mulch into the pool when he is getting crazy playing with people in the pool.

In place of the mulch, what do you recommend? I was thinking some sort of stone, but something big enough that he does not kick those into the pool (but in a why there is already so much hardscape, i am not sure about putting more stone in that garden area).

Any thoughts?? Thanks.

 

[chiefwej]

I would consider artificial turf and a large potted plant. Maybe a palm?

 

[Clyde]

I would consider artificial turf and a large potted plant. Maybe a palm?

Interesting. I should also say the pool is raised up and you need to go up four stone steps (basically flat boulders). As such, there is a "lower patio" off of the house. Having anything raised in that mulch area would block the view of the pool. Hope this makes sense.

 

[IMason]

maybe a nice low groundcover with a plant in the middle?

 

[Clyde]

Different perspective, from the lower patio.

 

[borjis]

If it were me, I would remove the dirt and put stone in that matches the rest of it as
close as possible. or maybe a slightly different shade to contrast.

I know this was a thing for awhile but to my way of thinking it seems kinda
goofy to put soil/plants so close by.

 

[ap2002]

maybe removed the mulch and put river stone?

 

[Razorhog]

I would fill it in with concrete and then stain it. Maybe etch in a cool design.

 

[Agd38]

River rock or pit in a good edger guard

 

[zea3]

I think the artificial turf would be best. I wouldn't want plant material that close to the pool myself. Or fill in w/rock and add an umbrella and small table.

 

[doobs41378]

River stone is what we did and it works great.

 

[atttech-2]

how about dig it out and put in a stained teak, redwood or Trex boardwalk same level as the concrete and coping. The color and texture being so different will make it look like you meant to do it vs tried to fix a problem.

 

[ctrav]

Artificial turf so you can hit golf balls

 

[JimMarshall]

River stone/boulders. Concrete them in

 

[SuzfromTexas]

River stone is what we did and it works great.

I wanted to see what you're river stone looks like, and I was so glad you have a link to your pool build in your signature. But...... I couldn't open any of the attachments! The only picture I could see was the satellite one. It might be my computer. Could you post a picture here for us to see? Thanks!

 

[Sseaman]

Maybe Lirope, it will spread and fill in and is pretty hardy

 

[bmoreswim]

Maybe Lirope, it will spread and fill in and is pretty hardy

Ding, ding, ding!!! Big Blue Lirope is a naturally spreading variety that will form a solid grass matt over the area in a few years. Plant plugs of it about every 8" in offsetting rows. This picture was from 2 years ago. One year after planting BBL about 12"+ on center. It's now mostly grown together. Better if you can find someone who has a big patch of it. Then take clumps out or take a section and rip it apart. You probably only need 20 or so. But you don't want to mix river rock and lirope in my mind. Each year you have to mow or weed wack the lirope down in the late winter, say early March.

And I was just looking for an excuse to post this photo again.

IMG_1129 by Snowman 10, on Flickr

 

[Matchless1]

We planted liriope in a similar spot (2 actually) as well as some blood bananas. They look nice, and I guess they would help keep a dog out, but we also ran an electric dog fence (which works fabulously!) in these (and all) mulched areas during the build because our dog also loves to get in the mulch. We also use Softscape, so it tends to stick really well to fur, except of course the minute he comes inside, then it just falls right off. Anyway, I know the electric fence isn't an option post-build, but here are some pics to give you an idea of what the liriope might look like.

The first 2 pics were taken last fall, and we didn't cut them back at all (like we should have), so they're growing in quite full this summer...the whole perimeter is just about blocked off now on one of them, which is shown in the 3rd pic. As you can see, our blood bananas took a hit during a hard freeze, but new ones have sprouted up in their place and are doing quite well...just need some height to them.

10/15/16:





6/21/17:

 

[SuzfromTexas]

Those beds by the pool look great! That's what I would do. Go ahead and buy enough liriope to fill in the beds rather than wait. You shouldn't need any mulch. If your dog goes after the plants, then move them elsewhere. I think it would be worth a try.