Low Maintenance Poolside Landscaping

Your backyard landscaping may be making your swimming pool a mess. If leaves, dirt and flower petals blow from backyard trees or shrubs into your pool, it falls on you to clean it up. Low maintenance poolside landscaping allows you to still have an attractive poolside view, but eliminates the mess.

Low maintenance plants 

Look for low-shedding trees and shrubs, like pines, palms, ornamental grass or bamboo. You can also plant trees or shrubs that drop all their leaves at once, as long as you’re willing to skim the debris when it falls.

Look for flowering plants that have big, attractive blooms. These are most often insect-pollinated, so they do not rely on wind for pollination. One note of caution here: Avoid putting plants pollinated by bees close to the pool, since you don’t want to draw bees to the area.

Specific plants to consider adding include bearded iris, cinnamon fern, aloe or agave. Honeysuckle, bougainvillea, morning glory or trumpet vine all make for attractive and low maintenance vines. For trees, try Southern live oak, acacia, pine, palm or eucalyptus species. Steer clear of high-shedders like mimosa and bottlebrush.

Planting tips 

While succulents and cacti make a nice addition for many of the pools in Jacksonville, Florida, they can pose a safety risk if planted too close to the pool. Set these plants far enough back from your pool that people walking and playing near the pool won’t accidentally prick themselves. If you’re attached to high-shedding plants, plant them downwind from your pool so they blow debris away from the pool or hire a pool maintenance company to provide regular pool cleaning.

Following these tips should provide you with a pool landscape that’s both pretty and pain-free.

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