Halfway thru decking but...

[twirlyjack]

Hi Everybody. This is our first pool and we didn't run the travertine up to our house, we only ran it mostly 4' around the pool with a little extra near the pool entrance. Apparently it would have cost nearly $10,000 more to have it go near the house. Does anyone have any advice on what you would place there? All I can think of is rocks with plants. I'm not impressing myself. I'd love more travertine but it's not in the cards. What would you do?

 

[twirlyjack]

Hi Everyone. We ran about 4' travertine around most of our new pool, and a little extra near the pool entrance. We should've ran it closer to the house. Aside from springing for more travertine which we'd rather not do, does anybody have any suggestions on what to make out of this area where the dirt/grass is? One person suggested pebbles with plants, but I'm not exactly sold on that. I have no idea of what could be done. Thank you.

 

[DorsalSpine]

Well you could just plant grass. Not my first choice. I have mulched beds with shrubs and perennials. There is an active post showing planters near pools. You might get some ideas from that. Decorative stone and a few large pots with flowers for color would be a low maintenance approach.

 

[twirlyjack]

Well you could just plant grass. Not my first choice. I have mulched beds with shrubs and perennials. There is an active post showing planters near pools. You might get some ideas from that. Decorative stone and a few large pots with flowers for color would be a low maintenance approach.

Good ideas, thank you.

 

[Chasarms]

Outdoor kitchen?

 

[HermanTX]

Hi and welcome to TFP. The 4ft wide area is good for walking around the pool so it depends what you want as you near the house. I think if you want it weed free is to lay down weed cover and put river or bull rocks over it. Put it all the way to the house or leave a gap if you plan to plant flowers or bushes nearer the house. This may be easiest as I see it has a slope.

Alternatively, you can lay pavers if you want to expand the walking area. This will take more time because of the slope and ensure they are flat so no one trips. There is all types at Home Depot/Lowe's and you can do it a bit at a time as $$ are available. I would definitely put some weed cover on it now to reduce weeds and also any mush if it rains.

There is one last option - put ground cover such as monkey grass, mulch, Asian jasmine, pine needles, etc. This is probably the easiest and least expensive. All of these are low maintenance and keeps weeds under control.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

dwarf mondo grass which can take the heat, can be walked on yet requires no true maintenance. It could be planted close in such a way to fill the space and almost look like a grass filled area.

Maddie

 

[chillermonster]

composite deck to extend beyond the covered patio for sunbathing

 

[Sollace]

Large pavers and gravel is another option. From the water run off it looks like this area is drainage.

 

[revitup]

Bocce court.

 

[Stoopalini]

I'd build a raised wooden deck, extending off the covered porch. Take the two railing sections, and relocate them along the new wooden deck's edge. This would be a nice place to sun bathe, or have a grill, etc ... It would add a nice dimension to the space as well.

If you're a DIY kind of person, building a wooden deck can be fairly cheap.

 

[Dirk]

I see toys! I have similar areas. If you go with landscaping, keep in mind folks will need to walk on or through it. And if those folks are kids, they won't be too kind to your gardening efforts. And it will be subjected to pool water, too, the more kids, the more water. If you have an SWG, the water's salt content will be up there, but all pools are saltwater pools to some degree, so choose plants accordingly. I use Myoporum. It's a ground cover. It'll take a little abuse, and looks a little like the lawn I replaced if I squint. Doesn't seem to mind the occasional squirt from a water gun. What I like best about it is that I planted a few seedlings close together and the plant radiates out from there, up to a 9' circle. But I only have to water the original "hub" with a drip emitter, I don't have to sprinkler the whole thing like I did with the lawn. Which means I'm not also watering weeds. I can walk across it to pluck the few weeds that manage to spout, but I have no weed barrier as the Myoporum does a good job of keeping weeds at bay. Drought tolerant. Oh, and evergreen, year-round, where I live. AND NO MOWING!!

 

[Dirk]

The farther area is the established Myoporum, in front is where I took out the lawn and planted more. It's almost filled in now, might take another year. But instead of the sprinklers, I only have the four emitters for that closer section. You can still plant other things within the Myoporum, or use pots or rocks, to add visual interest. Doesn't have to be solid Myoporum. This was early spring, so the Myoporum is even greener now in the summer.

 

[Dirk]

I don't have a recent pic. I added flagstone stepping stones (that match my pool) so I'd have easy access to the lime tree and the bird feeder. Also adds some visual interest. You could do likewise with a few travertine squares, just set on sand, or a "dollop" of concrete for leveling, to tie your landscaping into the pool and to help the littles cross it to grab their beach ball.

 

[Sollace]

I've been looking at a lot of pool / yard pictures.
With kids you could put in a trampoline. Well maybe not enough room and you don't want them jumping into the pool from it.
Spice or vegetable garden with rocks
Water feature / fountain /pond
Put in some type of vine like jasmine or ivy and just trim it when doing the lawn
Build benches for outdoor storage / shoe rack / pool floats / or a shower
Bench swing facing the pool of course

 

[mlggator]

If you can swing it, I would put more travertine down so that you have more seating around you pool. If that is not doable, then I would probably put up some kind of small low border plant, like a decorative grass, and regular grass behind it or larger bushes. You could use mondo grass, blue fescue or liriope. That would help keep regular grass and mulch from getting in your pool by providing a border.

 

[twirlyjack]

Hi and welcome to TFP. The 4ft wide area is good for walking around the pool so it depends what you want as you near the house. I think if you want it weed free is to lay down weed cover and put river or bull rocks over it. Put it all the way to the house or leave a gap if you plan to plant flowers or bushes nearer the house. This may be easiest as I see it has a slope.

Alternatively, you can lay pavers if you want to expand the walking area. This will take more time because of the slope and ensure they are flat so no one trips. There is all types at Home Depot/Lowe's and you can do it a bit at a time as $$ are available. I would definitely put some weed cover on it now to reduce weeds and also any mush if it rains.

There is one last option - put ground cover such as monkey grass, mulch, Asian jasmine, pine needles, etc. This is probably the easiest and least expensive. All of these are low maintenance and keeps weeds under control.

thank you!

 

[twirlyjack]

Bocce court.

Awesome!

 

[jennbostwick]

Hi Everyone. We ran about 4' travertine around most of our new pool, and a little extra near the pool entrance. We should've ran it closer to the house. Aside from springing for more travertine which we'd rather not do, does anybody have any suggestions on what to make out of this area where the dirt/grass is? One person suggested pebbles with plants, but I'm not exactly sold on that. I have no idea of what could be done. Thank you.

What plaster finish/color did you use for your pool?

 

[Yev]

I would like to see a more zoomed out picture, maybe a coupel from different angles to see the entire backyard. From the limited field of view, hard to give a good brainstorm. I would like to see other landscaping, seating, planters, trees, etc.