You could start here. I am not spamming you. It is the difference between having a few opinions from either on here or from your friends, and taking the time to discover what would really work for you, by you. Save yourself a few bucks as well.

Regards,

Michael.

Anyone?

"...they could not remove anymore dirt without possibly damaging the root structure..." Whatever loose soil or easily dug soil is sitting on top of the mound can be removed without damaging anything. Feeder roots are not near the trunk but out in the yard. Bevel/bend the soil, like a mound, to meet the concrete surface. It would be a lot nicer if you add cheekwalls to the dirt side of steps. I don't know what grows where you live, but something like solid Hakone grass would look great below the trees.

Yardvaark, there is no loose soil on the top right side. I think in my photos it looks like there’s loose soil, but all of that soil hardly budgets unless it’s wet but even then, there are tons and tons of roots that we have to keep cutting to remove more dirt. We tried shoveling dirt off the top to even it out but the roots are so dense in that area. I’ve had three landscapers come out and they’ve all said that they can’t take anymore dirt off the right side to even it out because in order to loosen the dirt, they’d have to take a big chunk of roots out and that puts the redwood trees at risk. :/

We have no idea what shape to make the retaining wall so that it fits the aesthetic of the pool without being the “center of attention” if that makes sense. Any suggestions?

I will look into the grass you suggested! For us, the more greenery the better. We are over seeing all the dirt at this point lol.

Here's one thought...

Remove the redwoods immediately. They are incompatible with residential landscaping. Depending on where you are, you can plant red tipped photinia to give you privacy.

Redwoods found my pool, and other pipes... and therefore the wallet; $50k poof. Those redwoods will be extremely expensive if they stay.

Molewacker, We definitely are keeping the redwoods. I love those big beautiful trees and they are part of the reason why we bought the house. In the living room we have these large, beautiful custom windows that overlook these emerald beauties along with the pool and water fountain. We actually have 4 giant redwoods in our backyard (there's two on the left side of the yard) and all of our neighbors have redwoods everywhere too. I know they aren't ideal for residential landscape but they're here and we love them so we're going to keep them unless they start to die for some reason. Then we'd have them removed right away because those things are huge and we don't want them to fall.

We have decided to go forward with building a retaining wall as low as possible to hide the roots from the redwoods. The tree to the right of the redwoods will be removed and we are in the process of getting quotes for the retaining wall right now. Will update this thread with photos when the project is complete!

With any retaining wall near trees you need a barrier . So make the retaining wall footing deep enough to be effective, and place reinforcing mesh vertically in the trench before pouring concrete.

Dig Doug's Designs(8A), WOW! That is BEAUTIFUL! I absolutely love that design! I'm going to show my husband, I think he's going to love it just as much. We've been so stumped with this whole landscaping thing (we aren't very artistic people & landscaping is an art). This really helps me conceptualize what our backyard could look like. I love it! Thank you again for taking the time to create this, it's amazing and I truly appreciate it!!

Well I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the retaining wall should have been built first and then the pool structure started from there. You will have to dig out a couple of feet in front (or behind in your case) in order to build the wall. I have to imagine that will damage the trees roots based on the proximity to what you’ve already built. You may have to look at boulders that are varying sizes aligned there and placed on top - not dug down in any way. I also think you should consult with an arborist in your area to get their take on the situation if you want to retain those trees.

A landscape architect would be the best person to contact. They understand structure and how it interfaces with your trees and plants. As much as Doug’s rendering is nice you have limitations on what you can plant under those trees - probably nothing. I’m not trying to be a Debbie downer but we just put in a swim spa and hardscaping/pergola in our backyard with mature trees. Our retaining wall was dug down and was one of the first things done. And no plants were planned under our evergreens as even if they would survive they had no soil depth to work with.

The plants shown are positioned in a way which will allow them to grow. The retaining walls shown will not damage the trees & can easily be retro-fitted to the landscape. The walls shown are built and backfilled, not cut into the grade. The middle wall is a free standing seat wall.