Perfect Pool Landscaping

Landscaping a swimming pool in a desert climate, whether it’s Houston, Las Vegas, or Dubai, is always something of a challenge. While it’s vital to add greenery and create some shade around your pool, a lot of the typical desert landscaping plants just aren’t suitable for the pool area (namely, cacti). There are a few other things you need to consider, too.

Choose Cool Deck Material

Pavers and concrete are the pool deck materials of choice for most pool owners, but when your landscaping a swimming pool in the desert, they’re the worst things you could choose. Simply put, they get painfully hot in the sun and are liable to burn somebody’s bare feet.

Instead of resigning yourself to wearing flipflops everywhere you go, choose a cooler deck or patio material like wood or vinyl decking. If you’re re-modeling an existing pool, consider painting it with a sun-reflecting paints like those from E-Z Pooldeck. Another option is to cover the patio with a stay-cool surface like Marbelite resurfacing product.

Create Some Shade

A little warmth is one thing, but the desert sun glaring directly down on you while you swim isn’t always pleasant. So that you can relax in the shade whenever you want, try to make sure at least part of the pool is blocked from the sun. The easiest way, of course, is with a large deck umbrella. They’re easy to set up and can be moved anywhere you want.

Of course, plastic umbrellas don’t provide the lush, cool green that plants do. If you’d rather use shade trees, try mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), desert willow (Chilopsis linearis), littleleaf ash (Fraxinus greggi), Cork Oak (Quercus suber).

Another idea is to build a latticework trellis and train a climbing vine on in. Flowering, scented vines line Catclaw yellow trumpet (Macfadyena unguis-cati), Bougainvillea, and Confederate jasmine (Rhynchospermum jasminoides) are ideal as long as they’re not too close to the patio, since the do tend to attract bees.

Add Low-Maintenance Greenery

Native, drought-tolerant plants are perfect for the desert swimming pool landscape, but it seems like most of the native desert plants have needles or sharp leaves or else produce sticky, messy flowers like the yucca. Fortunately, there are plenty of other less aggressive native desert succulents echeveria, crassula, and sedum all of which comes in a variety of colors ranging from cool mint green to brilliant magenta. For drought tolerant flowers, try Flaming Katy (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana).

Like most desert landscaping projects, landscaping a swimming pool in the desert works best when you create a small, lush “oasis zone” to relax in and surround it with native plants lower water requirements.