Landscaping around pool

EmilyOTR

Bronze Supporter
Feb 15, 2017
712
Ferndale, MI
Pool Size
15000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
We have just a tiny bit of grass around the pool and we’d like to get rid of it. Thoughts on what to put there? Rocks? Mulch?

Normally the lawn chairs are on the grass. We moved them for someone to mow today.

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Assuming on the house side of the pool you have enough patio for entertaining, I'd do smooth river rocks and mulch on the back side. I like the rock closest to the pool and nice landscape divider to keep mulch in place. Looks kinda shady back there. Maybe some Hostas and Impatients for a pop of color?
 
Assuming on the house side of the pool you have enough patio for entertaining, I'd do smooth river rocks and mulch on the back side. I like the rock closest to the pool and nice landscape divider to keep mulch in place. Looks kinda shady back there. Maybe some Hostas and Impatients for a pop of color?

do you mean mulch where our trees are, and river rocks where the grass is?
 
I’d go with a rock 2-4 in in size. We used a blue/grey beach pebble and it makes a great buffer.

If you want more deck space you could build a deck that sits on the ground for the lounge chairs. Another alternative would be to pour a concrete pad and the. Fill in behind it with the rock
 

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I'd go with pavers or concrete. Either, done right, is a lot of work but you really need more deck space from what you are saying. Artificial turf is nice, though very seldom seen in the northern areas for personal lawns. I would never get it because the types of plantings I have would get all sorts of fine debris stuck in the grass (oak tassels, helicopters, seeds from perennials, bits of leyland cypress, mulch, etc.) That's my perception anyway which prohibit me from trying it. I need something hard to blow/hose off. Can't say if my dogs would understand it's not their domain as well.
 
I'd go with pavers or concrete. Either, done right, is a lot of work but you really need more deck space from what you are saying. Artificial turf is nice, though very seldom seen in the northern areas for personal lawns. I would never get it because the types of plantings I have would get all sorts of fine debris stuck in the grass (oak tassels, helicopters, seeds from perennials, bits of leyland cypress, mulch, etc.) That's my perception anyway which prohibit me from trying it. I need something hard to blow/hose off. Can't say if my dogs would understand it's not their domain as well.

oh we have a huge Oak tree that dumps stuff into our backyard (as you can see in the pictures). I can see that being a pain to get out of turf. thanks for that. I guess we are looking at rocks or pavers or concrete. I'm guessing rocks is more in our budget but we can get some quotes!
 

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Rocks will accumulate the debris and it is hard/impossible to get out over the years, obviously the more the worse it is. It will accumulate and then form dirt which will allow weeds to grow. It's a longer term consideration that is often overlooked.
 
Rocks will accumulate the debris and it is hard/impossible to get out over the years, obviously the more the worse it is. It will accumulate and then form dirt which will allow weeds to grow. It's a longer term consideration that is often overlooked.

another good thought. so, which is more expensive, pavers or concrete? And is that basically my only options? will pavers look weird with my stamped concrete part of my patio on the other side of the pool? If we do concrete will it look odd right next to the old concrete?
 
IMO...

No fake grass. Yuck. No rocks. Yuckier! Establish your goals first: do you want something amazing looking? Or do you need more deck space? What is the budget?

Looks like you already have quite a mashup of concrete: old, stamped and coping. Unless you can find a concrete guy that can match one of those, it's going to look like what it is: a quilt of concrete done at different times. So the solution, aesthetically, is to use contrasting material. Pavers would qualify, but yes, even that will likely look a bit weird with all the other concrete textures you have.

This is how I'd do it: remove grass and existing "decorative border" and extend the existing landscaping out to the existing concrete. Look in mag's for beautiful landscaping ideas, use contrasting heights and textures: shrubs, ground cover(s), perennials, etc. Then add some landscaping lighting, both up- and down-lighting, and you'll have a stunning backdrop to your pool, both day and night.

If you need or want to keep a sitting area, I'd build a Trex deck, raised 6" or so, back in the corner (with the new landscaping surrounding it). If there's not enough room for the chaises, switch to upright rockers or bistro table and chairs. If there's just barely enough room for chaises, and you're determined to keep those back there, you can extend the deck over the existing concrete a bit to accommodate them (how much depends on how much concrete decking you want to leave). Conceivably, you could build that deck all the way out to the coping, and really create a new look. That might interfere too much with the traffic to the slide, but the point is the Trex deck does not have to conform to the existing line of the concrete.

The landscaping (with or without the Trex) will be a natural extension of your existing flora back there, and won't clash with any of the existing concrete, and will be a lot prettier to look at than rock or pavers or concrete...
 
IMO...

No fake grass. Yuck. No rocks. Yuckier! Establish your goals first: do you want something amazing looking? Or do you need more deck space? What is the budget?

Looks like you already have quite a mashup of concrete: old, stamped and coping. Unless you can find a concrete guy that can match one of those, it's going to look like what it is: a quilt of concrete done at different times. So the solution, aesthetically, is to use contrasting material. Pavers would qualify, but yes, even that will likely look a bit weird with all the other concrete textures you have.

This is how I'd do it: remove grass and existing "decorative border" and extend the existing landscaping out to the existing concrete. Look in mag's for beautiful landscaping ideas, use contrasting heights and textures: shrubs, ground cover(s), perennials, etc. Then add some landscaping lighting, both up- and down-lighting, and you'll have a stunning backdrop to your pool, both day and night.

If you need or want to keep a sitting area, I'd build a Trex deck, raised 6" or so, back in the corner (with the new landscaping surrounding it). If there's not enough room for the chaises, switch to upright rockers or bistro table and chairs. If there's just barely enough room for chaises, and you're determined to keep those back there, you can extend the deck over the existing concrete a bit to accommodate them (how much depends on how much concrete decking you want to leave). Conceivably, you could build that deck all the way out to the coping, and really create a new look. That might interfere too much with the traffic to the slide, but the point is the Trex deck does not have to conform to the existing line of the concrete.

The landscaping (with or without the Trex) will be a natural extension of your existing flora back there, and won't clash with any of the existing concrete, and will be a lot prettier to look at than rock or pavers or concrete...

I think I need to keep the chaises in that corner because I have a tiny backyard and there isn’t room for them otherwise. The only other place gets no sun. I feel like a raised tree deck is too much. This area of grass is really small.
 
I think pavers with a contrasting color would look the best of the solid surface choices. Deck was a good thought/outside of the box idea.

As an idea, Techo Bloc Antika pavers are cobblestone like in appearance which would tie-in, though not match, with your existing stamped concrete. That might reduce the feeling of adding a third surface to the mix.

https://www.techo-bloc.com/en/products/antika/
 
Other than concrete decking, the entire area inside our pool fence is river rock. My wife and I put down landscape fabric and then put down 20 yards of river rock (quite a summer project).

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Virtually zero maintenance.
 
I did artificial grass on one end of our pool and river rock on the other two sides. The rock areas are nice and clean, but not usable. The "grass" area is very usable and adds a much needed touch of color in our yard. It is clean and looks really good. Honestly you can't tell its artificial unless you really look close. If you go that route, don't go down to the local big hardware store and buy whatever's on the rack. Go to an artificial grass place look at the many varieties they offer. For 2-3 dollars per square foot you can get a really good looking artificial grass.

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