North Texas landscaping ideas needed

[737mech]

It may be cold outside,but I am thinking about landscaping around our new pool. We would like a tropical look. We bought a few plants in the late fall and are in the garage greenhouse for now. We have a fan palm, needle palm, red yuccas, some canna lilies, liriope, and gardenias. Also picked up some elephant ear bulbs from Sam's this week. We would like to get some bananna trees also.
Alot of these plants will die off in the late fall after a frost and hopefully come back the following year.

So, what else could we plant that would be more of an evergreen and still go with a tropical look? That way in the winter it's not so barren looking. The area behind our pool gets mostly full sun.

 

[Readyforapool]

I'm in the same boat - trying to find things that will hold up in both heat and freeze temps that do well with little water! I think I'll head up to the nursery with my pool picture and see what they recommend in another week or so. I had posted a similar question on my pool build thread - as I was thinking loropetalum and pampas grass but the pampas grass apparently is a haven for critters so back to the drawing board. I'll be interested to see what others suggest for you. Please let me know.

 

[woodyp]

I sure have seen a lot of those fan palms bite the dirt around here with the 3 freeze spells we've had, but most are younger plants. I've got some purple fountain grass that puts on pretty purple fuzzy blooms in mid summer that grow 3 or 4 feet tall in pots I got from Home Depot.

 

[737mech]

I sure have seen a lot of those fan palms bite the dirt around here with the 3 freeze spells we've had, but most are younger plants. I've got some purple fountain grass that puts on pretty purple fuzzy blooms in mid summer that grow 3 or 4 feet tall in pots I got from Home Depot.

Oops I meant to say that I have a windmill palm. You are right, there are many Mexican fan palms around here that didn't make it after all the freeze spells that we have had this year. Some of them had been planted for many years. Here's a good cold hardy palm tree site http://www.dallaspalms.com/

Does the grass you mentioned look like this? Are they messy?

Muhlenbergia capillaris

We were just saying today that would look good in a couple of planters sitting on the 2 short columns along the back of the pool. We saw some planted last year over in Flowermound.

 

[woodyp]

Looks about right, although mine didn't get that big and bushy in a planter. They say they'll grow to 6 feet or better if truly planted. I bought 6 year before last, lost 3 over last winter. I never moved those pots out of the cold cause I wanted to see how well they'd make it. Question is, will the 3 I have left make it this winter!

 

[737mech]

Trying to figure out if a planter that looks like this one would be OK on top of the 4 pillars along the back wall of the pool or should we get ones that are more like stone color?

 

[woodyp]

I like the color and contrast. Liven it up!

 

[737mech]

That's what my wife thinks. I dont want it to look too cheesy...

 

[woodyp]

Don't want it looking like the prison on The Walking Dead either! My friends have classy "cement ponds".. I have the redneck swimmin' hole! Waiting for some more tin signs to come in now for my Margaritaville theme.

 

[737mech]

don't want it looking like the prison on the walking dead either! My friends have classy "cement ponds"..

lol :d

 

[737mech]

We went to Calloways today. Anyone know who else sells large planter bowls?

 

[Readyforapool]

Have you tried Garden Ridge, they use to have large planters? Also, some of the smaller independent nurseries tend to have them, at a price.

 

[737mech]

We looked there yesterday. Didnt see what we wanted. I wonder if the plastic ones would be to light and possibly get blown into the pool? That would be a mess.

I found a loquat tree that some others around here have grown successfully this winter.

 

[Readyforapool]

I had two huge loquats in Houston - I wouldn't plant them too close to a pool. They are beautiful and smell good when they flower but they are messy when the fruit falls off.

 

[MiaOKC]

This is what I would think of as Purple Fountain Grass. It is an annual here in OKC but I love it.

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/2493/fireworks-fountain-grass/

 

[RazorBill]

We almost talked ourselves out of a tropical/palm theme around our new pool but a long wknd in Cancun just spoiled that. I now know we will be tropical in McKinney. THanks for the info on Dallas Palms. I am going to check them out.

 

[737mech]

You might try checking out these guys after this warm up. They did have some palms that didn't make it. So you can see what not to buy. I would have to guess their selection when its warm would be good.

http://www.northtexaspalms.com

 

[Readyforapool]

These were on Zulily yesterday and saw some similar at Lowe's.

 

[737mech]

Went to Sam's today. We picked up this planter to try it out on one of our columns....it looks too tall for that location. The planter is 19" tall. It is however a good planter for just sitting it on a deck. The price was great too....$23.
We'll keep looking.

 

[737mech]

Landscaping behind the pool is coming along. I still need to finish it up. Hopefully, it will be completed today. Then I will move on to planting a couple of Loquat trees along a side fence.