After going over budget throughout our build process last summer, we decided to DIY the plantings around our pool (had to cut costs somewhere). All of the really difficult stuff like borders, sod, pool deck, retaining walls, landscape rock, lighting wire, etc are completed. We just need to design our plantings and install them.

It was actually quite a treat to have professional landscapers do all of the other landscaping and plantings around the house! I've done my own for many many years and am pretty handy.

So, here is what I'm looking for. In the attached picture, there are several notes pointing out the various borders/beds by location. The only planting so far is an Ivory Silk lilac tree outside the house near the pool equipment. We have a blank slate!

Here is a bit more about the site:

• Wooded to the south
• Nearest neighbor is a couple hundred yards to the east
• Kind of a pain to pull them out every fall, but love the idea of some large canna plants.
• Taller plants would be fine on east border, but wouldn't really want to create a tell barrier between pool and woods.
• Spend a lot of time in my home office, so the plantings outside that window will get a lot of attention.
• Full sun
• Zone 4
• Love the look of ornamental grass but don't want to overdo it.
• Sometimes less is more... don't need to cram a ton of plants in the plan

Any thoughts would be appreciated! I really want to design this out and not approach it haphazardly.