Soon-to-Be Fiberglass Pool Raleigh, NC

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Alright folks! We have some walls! I'll post pics in a little bit. In the meantime, the husband and I are discussing landscaping ideas. In this image (this is our actual pool and plan) the purple colored lines are retaining walls. For the lower retaining wall is it actually about 1/3 shorter than it appears here. It is about 2 feet off the concrete deck so we have a little room for plants or the like there. Do you all have any suggestions landscape wise? I don't want anything that attracts too many bees, and no Spruce (I'm allergic):rolleyes:, but otherwise I am all ears. The upper retaining wall will have some land behind it that we could leave as a natural area or landscape. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Also, humor me on this one....are there any palm-like trees that would survive here in central NC? I'd love to have just one palm or palmetto type tree...but not if it will be a constant fight to keep it alive! :)

dapool.jpg
 
The most cold hardy of all palms is the Needle Palm. Ours have survived for three winters now in MD - but not thriving. Your location would be more suitable. See http://www.chillypalmtree.com/NEEDLEPALM.html. The guy is from NC and is an honest small business man. You'll tell from his website - in a good way.
 
I agree with bmoreswim, I found this guys site and researched a bunch. He seems like a knowledgeable and fair local businessman! I wondered through Home Depot on Walnut the other day and they had a couple of palms for sale as well. I would choose the local guy first if pricing isn't your first concern. HD was a decent price.


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Thank you for the link! This looks exactly like something that could work for us. If it survived in MD maybe it could do something between "survive" and "thrive" here in NC...but with my black thumb of death there is no telling! :rolleyes:

bmoreswim said:
The most cold hardy of all palms is the Needle Palm. Ours have survived for three winters now in MD - but not thriving. Your location would be more suitable. See http://www.chillypalmtree.com/NEEDLEPALM.html. The guy is from NC and is an honest small business man. You'll tell from his website - in a good way.
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Thank you for the heads up Sunnymosmile! I thought about walking through the Home Improvement places in a week or two once our concrete is in and we have a better idea of what we need/want/what will fit. I'd prefer not to do a big box store, just because I don't find their plants last as long...but I'm pretty sure I am partially to blame as well! ;)

Sunnymosmile said:
I agree with bmoreswim, I found this guys site and researched a bunch. He seems like a knowledgeable and fair local businessman! I wondered through Home Depot on Walnut the other day and they had a couple of palms for sale as well. I would choose the local guy first if pricing isn't your first concern. HD was a decent price.


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Here are some links to pics of the retaining walls and rock walls that are going in:

Lower retaining wall that will hug the concrete around the pool. Separated by about a 2 ft strip to plant some small things. https://pix.sfly.com/9V9p_N
Upper retaining wall that will hug two steps up to a raised concrete area for entertaining. https://pix.sfly.com/E1jZYo
Beginnings of the wall that will have a stack stone veneer and two waterfall bars against the edge of the pool. https://pix.sfly.com/hD1Ci6
Back of stack stone wall. https://pix.sfly.com/dpJA4F
Link to stone very similar to what we chose: http://www.boralamerica.com/stone/cultured-stone/drystack-ledgestone/cs-ds-chardonnay
 
For landscaping are you looking for evergreen or don't care either way? Muhly grass looks pretty near water. Pretty in the winter all dried out then you cut it down in the spring and it grows back. Both pink plumes or white are available locally. Purple fountain grass is annual here, but beautiful, too, with its plumes that sway in thw wind. A small japanese maple might work. There are a few varieties that don't mind full sun, are upright and don't get too big. Small holly bushes will be evergreen and fit well in that space. Olive's Tree farm in Willow Springs is reasonably priced and knowledgeable. Broadwell's in Angier is cheap but you have to know what you want. (The peacocks and hens are fun for the kids to see.)

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Also, dwarf blueberry bushes could work, too. May attact some bees early in the season before swim season, but would be a fun edible to add to the landscape.
 
I really like your suggestions! I would love some plants with movement like grasses. My husband being a traditional and low-maintenance kind of guy just wants to throw in a bunch of boxwoods and let it go. Boxwoods are fine for a lot of things, but I would like to do something different there....a bit tropical or whispy. If that makes any sense! We have several japanese maples in our front yard, and they are beautiful and have thrived! I like the Muhly grass you suggested and the purple fountain grass! :)

ponygirl said:
For landscaping are you looking for evergreen or don't care either way? Muhly grass looks pretty near water. Pretty in the winter all dried out then you cut it down in the spring and it grows back. Both pink plumes or white are available locally. Purple fountain grass is annual here, but beautiful, too, with its plumes that sway in thw wind. A small japanese maple might work. There are a few varieties that don't mind full sun, are upright and don't get too big. Small holly bushes will be evergreen and fit well in that space. Olive's Tree farm in Willow Springs is reasonably priced and knowledgeable. Broadwell's in Angier is cheap but you have to know what you want. (The peacocks and hens are fun for the kids to see.)

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Also, dwarf blueberry bushes could work, too. May attact some bees early in the season before swim season, but would be a fun edible to add to the landscape.
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Just a note to be careful with some grasses which can have millions of tiny seeds/debris that you wouldn't otherwise notice until they are next to a pool. When I blow off our driveway in late summer I find that our Karl Forester Feather Reed Grass falls into this category. But it's not near the pool.
 
Concrete was poured yesterday...and of course it is still a mess over here, but I am SO PLEASED with the design we came up with. The company that did the work (Chasen Concrete) was top notch and I highly suggest them if you are in the Raleigh area! We also started buying grass seed and plants to (hopefully) get some landscaping started this weekend if the final grade is done!

Here are some concrete pics: https://pix.sfly.com/0a5ykz
Time-lapse video of our concrete install: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B02qNf7ScXw
 
Thank you! I really am in love with it. I never thought I would be in love with concrete! :D

I haven't been spraying it down. They finished around 5pm yesterday and then it was drizzling late last night and we have had some gently rain showers today. I figured at this point nature was doing the work for me! Hah! There is a stamped concrete coping with an accent color. They plan to come back tomorrow to finish up and clean up, at which point the accent color will be cleaned up, etc. It appears to be set, but I am not setting a foot on it yet!

What is the deal with spraying it down? Is that helpful going forward or just for the first couple of days?

kimkats said:
LOVE It! WOW! I love where the cuts are and how it really gives it a design look! Nice job!

Have you been spraying it down? That helps it cure. It looks like they sprayed color on it. It is set yet?

Kim:kim:
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I wouldn't spray any water on the concrete unless they instructed you to do so. Especially since the stamping powder is still on there. Our temps have been decently cool and with the drizzly rain it should be fine. Ours was put in last fall and cured perfectly.
 
Well, it has been a few days! We got some delays due to rain, which slowed down sealing the coping, which slowed down the final grading of the yard, which slowed down the landscaping, etc. Snowball effect! Not to mention that we did a bit of landscaping on Sunday because the weather was beautiful, but there were still some holes and soft spots in the yard....well, Queen Clutz here took a tumble in a hole along a retaining wall! Managed to mess up some tendons in my foot so I am in a boot for a week or two. Thankfully I didn't break anything!

So, here are a few pics of the little landscaping we started and you can see a snippet of the concrete once it dried to get a sense of the color. Right now the crew is out there doing a stack stone wall around our waterfall bars! Super excited to see that today!

https://pix.sfly.com/vDSNRy
 

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