We are planning to use a lot of stones in beds around the pool. Sorry that we are just not that far along. We are waiting for our cabana to be completed in another couple of weeks and then the landscapers will move in. I'll be glad to post then, but it might be too late for you. Good luck deciding. I will be following this to see what people have to say.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Pool Build

We too are strongly concidering small (one inch or so) river rock for our landscape. The pool is going to take up a good portion of our yard and we don't want grass again. Our thought is river rock for it's smoothness, if you step off the decking. We are thinking tropical with a few palms, some ground cover plants along the border and potted flowering plants.

I would also like to see pictures of thouse who chose river rock or something similar for their pool landscape.

I will take some and post later, I used large sized river rock that extends abour 1 to 2 feet off my concrete deck around the pool. I used landscape fabric underneath it and still get a weed or two, but that was well worth it.

We have all kinds of river rock and dry creek beds around our pool. Those rocks are heavy...they don't go anywhere.

I went with large river jacks around the whole perimeter of the pool. The trench is about 20 inches wide. It serves as a nice border to keep the grass back. Virtually no weeds (it is 12 inches deep). I also ran drainage pipe at the bottom of the trench to get run-off water from my downspouts and off the deck down to my swale. Only knock is they are tough on bare feet.
I'm having trouble figuring out how to upload a picture; will keep trying.

We used a mix of pea gravel and Mexican river rock for some of the areas around our pool (couple of pics below). The river rocks stay solidly in place except when the kids name them and take them swimming (yes, it's happened!) Some of the pea gravel gets tracked into the pool. I didn't intend for it to be walked on, but you know how kids are :-) I just pluck out the pieces of gravel when I'm swimming around. I might find 5 or 6 a week in there, so it's no biggie. I made sure to hold the gravel down below the decking elevation so it wouldn't wash out during super-heavy rains.

We used the smaller stones in our paths and the larger ones on the edges of the paths/pool to keep the mulch under control and off the travertine. Will likely rim our entire patio with the larger stones next season.

If you decide to have some plantings in and amongst the stones/rocks...or near the stones/rocks, remember that the rocks in direct sun will add a lot of heat to the microclimate the plants are in. Just be sure to select the proper plants with that in mind.

someday when our pool will be finished .. we actually bought pebble tiles for the water line and planning to put some more on areas around the pool. will send pics when it's done. We have neighbors who actually put black pebbles around their pool and it is absolutely beautiful.

I am looking for large size river stones, but in my area (North Dallas) is quite expensive ($15.00 small bag).
Any recommendations as to where to find a cheaper price? (I've looked all over the web)

Thanks!

What size river jack are these? Im trying to decide on the 3/4 or the 1-3 in?

I'm deciding between river rock versus pebbles/potato stone (1-4 inches) around my fence. Seems like they are very similar but river rock is more expense. Wondering if one is preferred and why