Seeking Pool Landscaping ideas -- hot in Texas, pool has direct sun

[Eh562300]

Hi, there. This is the second thread I have started today, the other is in the newcomers forum about pool chemicals.

Most of our pool is in direct sunlight in the hot Texas sun. Since our pool is shallow, it gets warm. The deep end is no more than five feet. This is perfect for our needs, but we want it to be cooler. We are waiting one season before deciding if we need a chiller, a heat pump, more landscaping, etc.

We want landscaping that will give us privacy, grow quickly, and give shade to the pool. We will also consider umbrellas that hang over the pool or any other solution you might have.

Should we wait until spring before planting? Do you have suggestions about what to plant?

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[txnole]

Can you post a photo of the area?

 

[travisr100]

I'm in the same situation you are. Curious what people suggest see my build post for pics.

 

[martinkennedy]

Palm trees, Frangipani, Hibiscus, Society garlic, Ixora, Crepe Myrtle, Gardenias, Birds of Paradise.















Don't forget lighting

 

[Riddleeagle18]

6 months ago

I'm a huge fan of Xmas palms. They are self cleaning. If you get more than a few frosts a year they probably won't make it though.

current

Here is the rest of the landscaping

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[otter86753]

Keep in mind any "fruit" or detritus of plants you are thinking about. We have a 40' tall Washingtonia palm that is shedding tiny white flowers and tiny pea size palm fruit berries into the pool.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

Remember to use the full grown size of something when planning where to put it. I have two pine trees the previous owner planted when they were very small 20 years ago but now overhang the apron and pool itself !!

 

[Riddleeagle18]

Remember to use the full grown size of something when planning where to put it. I have two pine trees the previous owner planted when they were very small 20 years ago but now overhang the apron and pool itself !!

Yep. Also if the pool will be without a screen enclosure think about the leaf shed rate. Everything I planted has almost no leaf dropping characteristics.


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[Ale_Brewer]

Amazon.com : New ProSource Sand Color 16 Garden

 

[eqbob]

Late to this thread obviously, but what you plan is going to need to be in direct correlation to how close it is to the pool. If you have a lot of decking, you'll need a lot of upper branch reach.

We have no decking. Plants are right next to coping. So during the day, pool gets full sun and is a wonderful 90ish water temp. At night, when the sun angle dips, the plants at the western end start to block direct sunlight and that part becomes a little cooler. Sounds like your desires tho are different than ours as we like bath water (g).

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Most of our pool is in direct sunlight in the hot Texas sun. Since our pool is shallow, it gets warm. The deep end is no more than five feet. This is perfect for our needs, but we want it to be cooler. We are waiting one season before deciding if we need a chiller, a heat pump, more landscaping, etc.

.

I can't offer you up any landscaping ideas at this time, but if you look at my link to Skippy's Pool Cooler in my signature line you'll see a cheap effective way of dropping your pool temps about 5 degrees via evaporation.

 

[travisr100]

We ended up going with bamboo. Particularly what's commonly known as Green Hedge bamboo. It will get to around 25' tall. It's a clumping type so that it won't spread like a runner. When doing my homework there are many different kinds to choose from depending on what your goal is. For us we hope it to be a fast grower providing privacy and shade without dropping leaves in the pool.

 

[Divin Dave]

If you are looking for landscaping to proivde shade to the pool, its gonna be a long haul. The pool would need to be in the shade for a few hours a day in order to be of any real benefit. And it takes real big trees to provide that type of shade.

Your best bet is to make yourself a fountain or buy one, that sprays water from a return. A couple of those and you can easily lower the temp a couple or 3 degrees. Umbrellas work good too.

Getting back to the landscaping though, some nice landscaping around the pool does on occasion, make being hot much more pleasurable.

We want landscaping that will give us privacy, grow quickly, and give shade to the pool. We will also consider umbrellas that hang over the pool or any other solution you might have

Thank you very much for your help.

 

[christied48]

Yep just added 2 aerators on each side this weekend and a tilt umbrella.. big differece from last weekend! Ran it till about midnight Saturday nite and Sunday the water was about 85 in the morning..88..89 until about 3pm when to got to 90. The mist blowing while swimming felt great and the high was like 106! The pool felt way better than the 93-94 it was before.. it definitely helped!

 

[texasgal]

We looked and looked for trees that met all our criteria and finally gave up. Everything got too big or dropped too much gunk. We wound up going with a large cantilever umbrella with full turn and tilt. I put it up over the pool on really bad days. All the landscaping we did was drought tolerant. Salvia, sedum, etc. We planted in July and I have had to baby (extra hand watering) even those. I put the umbrella over the plants during the worst of the afternoon. I purposely played it safe since I knew we were risking planting in these temps.

We thought we would need a chiller too, but thankfully with our light plaster we have yet to hit 90 even on those 106 days. Running our bubblers and waterfall chills our water back down pretty quickly even though the stream isn't as fine as an aerator. Running it after sundown from 8:30 to 10:30 combined with lower overnight temps usually drops our pool 2-3 degrees. I've been pleasantly surprised considering how many horror stories I heard about summer water temps in Texas. There have even been days the kids jump in and shriek that it's cold. Definitely did not expect that as we also have full sun ALL day.

 

[eqbob]

There have even been days the kids jump in and shriek that it's cold. Definitely did not expect that as we also have full sun ALL day.

Anything below 90 is cold in my book <G>

 

[DMS2014]

We had a privacy issue and we put up bamboo. it's wonderful! You do have to keep it in check but it's totally now blocked the neighbors' windows from our yard. it took about six months.

 

[Ale_Brewer]

We had a privacy issue and we put up bamboo. it's wonderful! You do have to keep it in check but it's totally now blocked the neighbors' windows from our yard. it took about six months.

Definitely need a DEEP root barrier around that stuff!