Overview

Wait till Fall to plant. Fall is prime time (at least in the south) to plant trees and shrubs. We redoing our front landscaping this fall. We are waiting on the excavating guy to come take up the old stuff. We had it professionally done the first time, so hopefully we can go by his lay-out and one thing I learned from him was to use a variety of colors. We have blue, red and green foliage and will likely stick to that. We will likely try to get our plants in the ground first week of November or late October if it cools down enough.

Trailrunner gives good advice about trees to close to the pool. However, your one tree looks far enough back. I love our magnolia and while we may have leaves drop much of the year (normal), we blow them out into the yard (our magnolia is huge so need to be out from under it) and the mulching mower takes care of them. The pod (?) things that fall only fall a certain time of year and we just rake them up. I love the smell of the blooms!

I would research what is native to your area. You will have better luck with native plants. Of course it if were me, and would work in your area (probably), I'd have to have some azaleas in there somewhere. My color scheme for landscaping is pink/white/purple-blue. I like some silver plants mixed in there too. An all white garden is beautiful though, especially when lit up.

I like the idea if a lot if grass rather than too many shrubs that would close off the views to the pool. Even though the design begs for some formal structured plantings, I just dont see it. I too am in Z7 (i sort of straddle a and b) and would love to see some hydrangeas at least as a backdrop, even though they do shed leaves. Encore azaleas would be a nice choice and there are lovely white varieties if you want to do a green and white theme. A few trellises with clematis would be pretty in spring/summer. You could fill in with evergreens that don't produce as much pollen as do boxwoods. The varieties are endless when it comes to small chamycyparis, yews, etc.

Do you have deer browsing? That might be another consideration.

How much time do you want to spend on gardening, or how much money on having someone do it? That is key.

We put a pool in in our first house, and I insisted they shoehorn it in among existing trees. One dogwood even ended up in a little circle within the decking. My DH used to joke that we had such a variety of trees, that there was always something falling into the pool. Maple, pine, dogwood, magnolia, We liked it that way but it was a lot of work and a lot of fiddling with the chemistry,

I would find out what grows best, either that is on the property now, or that your neighbors' grow. Don't fight it unless you want to spend a lot of time or money; grow what wants to grow. And then, I would use only that. A lot of one thing in abundance and health.

I will say one thing about grass up to the pool --- you may need a smaller lawnmower for that. We have grass on one side of the pool in Maine and they need to bring a different mower. YMMV.

Until we moved, I lived in 7b for six decades, so very familiar with this zone. I see you already have three Magnolia trees, so replace the missing one makes sense. Years ago, we did a DIY/Professional landscape project. They did the grading and planted two Japanese Maple trees, so I was not charged for the landscape plan. DH and I handled the rest of the project. A landscape designer is less costly than a LA, and some nurseries have designers on staff.

Boxwood edging would look nice, and require trimming once or twice a year. Doesn't sound like much until it has to be fit in the schedule. Do you follow James T Farmer on Instagram? He has a lovely southern yard in Georgia and puts in the hours. He posts weekly around the garden informative videos in his stories.

I love the first pic with the lawn and the hydrangeas. I had Annabelle hydrangeas at my pool and they looked beautiful and thrived, blooming twice each summer. I made sure that when they were planted I ran the hose at a drizzle (?) for a few weeks, alternating it from plant to plant. A gardener friend recommended this. After that I don't think I ever needed to water them. Agree about trees, they will just add to the pool upkeep.

A *simple* parterre type garden fits the house and the symmetry of the pool quadrants. But although that type of garden can appear relatively simple (limited plant variety and design can be done without lots of complicated twists and turns) they are not really *simple* and require regular qualified maintenance with string lines and someone who is experienced in boxwood hedges. They don't start out looking connected - that comes with time and a deft pruning hand.

I like the idea of the symmetry and formal gardens, but that is a lot of work and will take time to fill in and would also require that you keep up with everything and that it will all like the location it is in and have the same growing conditions and not die or have something eating on it etc. as all those things will be so much more obvious when that happens in that arrangement. All depends on how much you want to spend on keeping it up on a regular basis.

All grass certainly would make it easy to maintain as in only needing to mow it on a regular basis, but I feel it might be a tad boring. How about a hybrid where you put beds flanking the walkways and then grass in the rest of the area. Here's a rough sketch.

Nothing to add…just drooling over how gorgeous this is going to be!

What nini said !! The transformation so far is just beautiful.

Instead of grass, which needs regular mowing, you could heavy planting of Dwarf Mondo Grass for a mostly filled in look from the start. It fills in quickly and is hardy in the southern sun/heat, so you could skip the heavy planting and it will look filled in after 2yrs.

My only advice is to wait until the temperatures moderate before planting anything. You will be much more successful that way. I live in Texas, ask me how I know. LOL

Thank you all, this is helping to sort out whats in my head & my reality!

The existing magnolias around he pool havent been that bad this year, so we will add the missing one.

Im not really what i would call a gardener, neither is DH or the guy that helps us & hiring a gardener isnt in the plans

Allison, love JF & Farmsdale Fridays! Green & white is always right! Mondo grass could be interesting & stays green all year.

I thought i might add 4 big planters with limelight topiaries on either sides of walkways to pool house & garage.

Taking Lyfias idea, how about adding bigger boxwoods at the corners & the low flowers at semi circle?

I do have the cutest electric mower with bagger that i use to cut around the house.

Im ready for fall- planting & less grass cutting!

We had LImelights in the front yard two houses ago. They were as big as my large SUV. I cannot imagine keeping them as topiaries.

I almost suggested bigger boxwoods at the corners filled in with flowers, but then thought the Dwarf Mondo Grass (DWARF!!!!) would be perfect to be green year round and you cannot kill the stuff. Yes. to flowers in the semi circle. Easy to change with the seasons.

Mondo Grass sounds like an excellent suggestion especially since it can grow in any light conditions which is good with the Magnolias there too. The leaves will have a lighter or darker green depending on the light conditions. It won't look like a well manicured lawn so if that is what you have in mind it might not be for you, but it is very easy care. Just some weeding and if a hard freeze you may want to clean up some dead leaves.

Love limelights. Topiaries in a container are generally a good idea, because the planters themselves provide some of the visual impact and it's a bit easier to address if one of the plants has an issue; the bane of symmetrical gardens. I might try to keep a 5th somewhere as an "understudy."