You have a beautiful looking pool area that should only get better as you add landscaping!

First, could you be more specific as to what area of TX you're in? What works best in Houston, or Dallas, or Amarillo, are quite different. It would help you get more appropriate suggestions. You might also consider posting in the Texas Gardening forum of Garden Web.

I used to live an hour or so north of DFW and tropical plants would not survive there (too cold in winter and too hot and dry in summer). Sure, there were those who tried the tropical look and achieved it, usually due to an appropriate microclimate. But one of my neighbors routinely replaced palms and banana trees EVERY year!

Second, talk to a local landscaper/nursery. Personally, I'd recommend those who specialize in native species. Those nurseries really understand the local climate, what works and what doesn't. As to the plants you're considering, I can't offer an opinion, as we didn't use any of those.

We live in Forney, seems like the wind capital of the world sometimes! The banana trees handle the wind just fine. It's the cold that they don't like. One of ours didn't survive the first winter. They all made it through the 2nd winter. We had a brutal winter this year, I wrapped them all in burlap but it's too early to tell if they made it or not this year. I think the red one made it and both green ones didn't. That said, I just love the way they look and even if I have to replant them every year I can live with that. They grow quick enough to look good by mid-summer.

Based on your desire to put in palms and banana trees, I would suggest not putting in holly. It just won't look right. If you want a tropical look but need a privacy screen, consider ornamental grasses. They are very hardy, heat and cold tolerant and look awesome. We made a hedge out of Pink Muhly that's about 36" tall (it's filled in since the below pics were taken) and in another area we have a Mexican Feather Grass barrier that's about 24" tall. If you need something taller there are species like Maiden Grass that can grow 5'-6' in height. Pampas Grass gets even bigger, up to 15'!! You can mix various heights of grass together for even more interesting looks. And when grasses are blooming, they look absolutely fantastic. I have one specimen that I transplanted and I'm not even sure what it is, but it's about 4' tall and when it blooms the blooms look like fireworks!

Here are some pics of ours, these were taken in the fall of the first year of the landscaping, everything is bigger now:

Oh, tresw...i love your look. THis is exactly what I want. THANK YOU!!

I know this is not your style courtlynn12 but we added a little more landscape last weekend. I have no idea what all the stuff is but the wife said it would grow into a nice hedge within a couple of years. We will add some color through flowers this coming weekend.

We lost some of our plants and some of the new grass with the weird cold weather we had during the winter.