Selecting poolside plants is a delicate balance between beauty and practicality.
Our gardening selves, who want nothing if not a lush poolside planting bed, are pitted against our compulsively clean selves, who long for clear waters free from vegetative debris. Since there is no such thing as a completely "litter free" plant, creating a successful poolside garden relies heavily on plant selection.
The Japanese have a special reverence for blossoms floating on water, an appreciation that is totally lost on American pool owners. Because of this American sensibility, some of the most brilliant native spring blooming desert trees — the palo verdes and sweet acacias, among them — usually are relegated to spaces well beyond the pool enclosure. Even popular exotic landscape plants such as bougainvillea are usually inappropriate near a pool. As attractive as magenta bougainvillea bracts might be (even when they are floating in a pool), they are a gift that keeps on giving, making the pool an eventual soup unless regular skimming is done.
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So what plants will dress up the deck without causing leaf-litter mayhem? Greg Corman, owner of Gardening Insights in Tucson, gives this advice: "Using succulent plants is often a good bet, but there are other trees and shrubs that can work as well."
Sometimes there is an occasion to break the rules and plant something that will add some color, and a little flower litter to the pool area.
"I'm working on a project around a pool right now where I'm using a large coral bean tree near a pool. Since it will bloom during the hot season, large lipstick red blossoms will burst into color during the time of year the pool is getting used. There will be some blossom litter, but it will be manageable," Corman says.
● Contact freelance garden writer Scott Calhoun at scalhoun@azstarnet.com.
» Resources:
Gardening Insights, 603-2703