Pool Landscaping and Landscape Design

The pool surrounds carry more foot traffic, more water and more sun than any other surface in the garden. Sandstone and bluestone pavers, travertine, granite, honed concrete and tile each behave differently underfoot when wet, and each holds heat differently in a Highlands summer. Durable, non-slip and comfortable in bare feet is the brief; how it looks follows from that.

Coping is chosen for grip, edge profile and how it meets the waterline, and paving is set out so joints, falls and expansion joints between coping and paving are resolved on the drawing rather than improvised on site. A hardwood deck suits a pavilion or a sun terrace where timber warmth is wanted, provided the species, fixing and ventilation are specified for a wet environment.

Poolside planting is judged by what it drops as much as by how it looks. Trees and shrubs are assessed for leaf fall, fruit, flower litter and root habit before anything else. Deciduous trees over water mean a season of skimming, so canopy is kept off the pool and used instead to frame it, with evergreen structure closest to the edge. Root systems are kept well clear of the shell and the pipework, which rules out several popular species. Plants beside a pool also need to tolerate reflected heat, splash and salt or chlorine spray.

The planting is composed in layers: structure first, then the mid-level shrubs, then grasses and groundcovers at the edge. In a cool-climate garden that points toward clipped evergreen hedging, ornamental grasses, strappy foliage, Mediterranean shrubs and specimen trees placed for shade in the late afternoon, all chosen for frost tolerance at 700 metres. On a coastal site the palette shifts to agave, coastal rosemary and salt-tolerant natives. In every case the aim is a planting that is low-maintenance beside the water, because greenery that needs constant attention next to a pool is quickly resented.

A pool is where people are least dressed and most visible, so screening is designed first and decorated second. Pleached trees, tall hedging, timber or steel screens and the placement of the pavilion itself are composed to close the sightlines that matter and leave the views that are worth keeping. In the Highlands the same planting does double duty as wind shelter, because a pool exposed to the prevailing westerly is cold to swim in and expensive to heat.

Most pool landscapes include somewhere to sit out of the sun, somewhere to eat and somewhere for loungers and quiet relaxation. A pool pavilion, a covered terrace or patio, an outdoor kitchen or an outdoor shower is positioned for the afternoon shade, the view across the water and the path back to the house, and it is proportioned to the pool rather than dropped beside it.

Level changes between the house, the terrace and the water are handled with steps and walls that read as part of the architecture, and a low wall that doubles as a seat often does more than a row of furniture. Whether the pool is the centrepiece of the outdoor space or a quieter element off to one side is decided here, with a single focal point rather than several competing ones.

Lighting extends a pool garden past dusk and is designed into the plan so cabling is laid before paving. Low-level lighting on steps and edges is a safety requirement as much as an effect. Uplighting a specimen tree or washing a stone wall does more than floodlighting the water, decorative effect is kept to a minimum, and warm colour temperatures sit better with sandstone and timber than cool ones.

Pool surrounds shed a great deal of water in a storm and a great deal of splash on an ordinary day. Falls, stormwater drains and subsurface drainage are designed so water moves away from the house and the pool shell and does not pool against planting beds. Where a water feature is wanted, a rill or a wall spout is designed with the same discipline rather than added as an ornament. Backwash disposal, plant equipment, pool covers and storage are given a place that is accessible, ventilated and out of sight, which is far easier to arrange at the design stage than after the pavilion is built.

Every swimming pool in NSW, as across Australia, must be surrounded by a compliant barrier under the Swimming Pools Act 1992 and the current Australian Standard, and registered on the NSW Swimming Pool Register. The practice treats the barrier as a design element rather than an afterthought: glass where the view matters, steel or timber where enclosure is wanted, and planting held outside the non-climbable zone so the garden and the fence do not fight each other. Non-slip surfaces, clear circulation and lighting on level changes are part of the same conversation.