Pool Landscaping Themes You'll Love

Summary

Create an oasis with landscaped colors that soothe, excite, or harmonize.
Mimic the look of a natural pond by utilizing stone, plants, and water features.
Discover which pool landscaping themes are going to suit your needs and style best to design the backyard of your dreams.

A backyard pool is always a focal point. It's a gathering point, a place to have fun, somewhere to get regular exercise. Let's face it: the pool is the center of activity in your yard. So transform this area with landscaping themes to create your own little mini-world. Because the pool can also be an escape from the everyday!

Escape the world with a landscaping theme for your pool that will be soothing, exciting, colorful, or serene.

1 Play Around With Colors

Design a color scheme around the pool with flowers

Flowers around the pool — Flowers growing around the swimming pool

Use flowering plants to add any color you want to your poolscape. Flowers not only bring pretty scents to the pool area, but they might also attract butterflies and hummingbirds. There are a few different ways to use color in pool landscaping themes.

Single color	Plant flowers all in the same color to create a cohesive look. Give the theme a more layered look by choosing flowers in different shades of the same color. Lilac, for example, blooms in softer, pastel purple shades, while irises have a deep, rich purple that is several shades darker.	Many flowers grow in vivid shades of red that make for a vibrant poolscape. Try growing canna lily, cardinal flowers, and coral honeysuckle to bring the bold shade to your landscaping. For shades of yellow, consider tulips, daisies, and marigolds.
Complementing colors	For a look that's visually pleasing and soothing, consider complementing colors that blend together harmoniously. When adding plantings around your pool, consider shades and flowers that pair well with blue, which is commonly the color of a pool! Purples, greens, and shades blue are like colors, meaning they are complementary and great for adding texture to your yard around pool areas.	Great options include the breathtaking plumes of hydrangeas, the lengthy foliage of hostas, and the delicate stems of lavender.
Contrasting flower shades	Colors that juxtapose blue, like orange, red, and yellow, are a great way to add dimension to your space and play around with contrasting color themes. Colors that would seem to clash against each other, such as yellow and purple, work surprisingly well when they play off each other.	Flowers in warmer shades include the trumpet-shaped blooms of hibiscus, the cheery yellow of sunflowers, and the vibrant orange tiger lily.

2 Use a Pretty Pond Theme

Create a natural look for the pool

Pond theme pool — Natural pond pool theme

If you want your pool to look like a natural area, consider techniques that will make it resemble a pond! Look for natural stone tiles for the deck and walkway, as well as the stairs and launch pad for the pool.

Plants like water lilies and yellow flag irises are often found in natural ponds, adding to the aesthetic, but they act as natural filtration systems to keep your pool clean! Pool landscaping themes that create a natural look help your swimming area blend beautifully into the rest of your backyard landscape.

Installation of a waterfall is a great way to add that extra wow factor and complete the natural theme.

3 Tropical Poolside Paradise

Use plants to design an exotic oasis

Tropical poolscape — Pool surrounded by tropical plants

If you want your pool area to feel like a paradise, look for tropical plants to decorate with, such as bird of paradise, monstera plants, and vining pothos. Tropical pool landscaping themes never go out of style.

Bamboo and natural wood furniture with light tones for cushions are ideal for creating a light, airy, tropical look, alongside wood floorboards.
Terracotta and woven pots will add the final touch for that picture-perfect landscape.

4 Lounge Around a Relaxing Poolscape

Add seating to the pool area to create a restful space

Pool lounge area — Lounge area around pool

A pool area cannot be complete without a few chairs for lounging. Whether you are exhausted after an exhilarating swim and need to chill out, want to relax in the fresh air, or simply love to tan after some fun in the sun, there is no going wrong with a few loungers on the patio. So, when planning the landscaping around your pool, be sure to plug in a spot for lounge chairs!

Bonus points if you add a tree or pergola to provide a little extra shade.

Remember the big picture when thinking about pool landscaping. Your lawn should be a good distance from the pool to prevent grass clippings from flying into the water, as should trees that shed their leaves each fall!

5 Privacy Hedges Create a Cozy Feel

Make your swimming area feel more private with well-placed hedges

Pool with privacy wall — Privacy wall next to pool

If you want to make your backyard more private, consider adding privacy hedges around your pool. Well-placed hedges create a cozier pool area and make it easy add privacy, which is why you often see them in pool landscaping themes.

Late cotoneaster is one of the best options for year-round interest and privacy, reaching 13 feet in height with white flowers in the summer, red berries in the fall, and green foliage throughout the year.
Arctic willow is more neutral, with silvery-green fine-textured foliage with a rounded growth habit, reaching 10 to 15 feet in height.
Oakleaf hydrangea, reaching between six and 12 feet tall, is a showstopping option, boasting breathtaking pinnacle-shaped clusters of white flowers during the summer, and year-round foliage for all-year privacy.

6 Grow a Floral Border Around the Pool

Give the pool an enchanted feeling with beautiful flowers

Purple flowers around pool — Poolside purple flowers

In place of fences and hedges, bright colors and gorgeous textures are ideal for bordering your precious pool area. Some of the best flowers for bordering a pool are low-maintenance and love lots of sunlight, though they should tolerate some shade if you are using an umbrella or other structure. Some great options include the brightly colored rhododendron, showstopping fuchsia flowers, and pretty periwinkle.

When landscaping around a pool, avoid thorny plants, such as rose bushes, which might be too close for a swimmer's comfort, as well as plants that attract bees, like bee balm, and also plants that have an invasive root system that might damage a pool, like Japanese knotweed.

7 Make it Lush With Gorgeous Greenery

Give the pool a jungle feeling with lots of leafy plants

Green poolscape with many plants — Poolscape surrounded with greenery

Greenery is a great addition to your garden, but tall greenery is especially ideal if you have an above-ground pool. Once you install a deck or ladder area, surround the remaining sides of the pool with tall-growing shrubs, ornamental grasses, and beautiful bushes to add texture and dimension.

Some great options include butterfly bush, mock orange, and pink muhly grass.
Tall, leafy or busy green plants surround the pool with nature and help create jungle-like pool landscaping themes.
All the tall plants have the added benefit of providing some shade for the pool, which helps to prevent evaporation and helps to keep the water cool.

Dive Into Pool Landscaping Themes

Landscaping around a pool requires practical consideration alongside artful design. When choosing how you will design your backyard and pool area, consider what matters most to you, such as shade, walkways, and picturesque views. Avoid structures and plants that won't work well for your needs, such as trees that shed their leaves often, hedges that block a view of the pool, and plants that might attract bugs and bees which might hinder your experience in the pool.

When all is said and done, your backyard is sure to be a vision!