inexpensive, luxurious, and relaxing pool area with a tropical feel, using drought-resistant plants in planters.

You live in the country with incredible views of greenery surrounding you. That IS luxurious. Maximizing what you already have is the least expensive and most luxurious way to utilize this space. Turning this into a tropical space is putting a square peg in a round hole.

People add planters to pool areas because they want to bring in some nature. You already have nature. Plus, planter are expensive. Even make shift ones. So is soil to fill them. And even drought resistant plants need way more water above ground in a planter than in the ground. Tropical plants are lush. Drought resistant plants in planters tend not to be. Think succulents. I don't think that is the vibe you are going for and it certainly doesn't mesh with the vegetation surrounding you.

Instead, maximize your view, add some flowering native perennials and grasses to the area with the black mesh. Then spend your budget on the nicest pool furniture and standing umbrella you can afford. That will feel more luxurious than planters with succulents and will take advantage of the incredible nature surrounding you.

My guess is your biggest objection is to the concrete. But once you have nice furniture around the pool, it will minimize the concrete feel.

Consider these pools that have minimal landscaping around them. It is not needed with their great nature views.

For the runoff, you can add a buried pipe to the house downspout to have the water drain beyond the pool. I can’t see the 3’ slope on the other side that is causing run-off but regrading or adding a swale can work to divert water in a natural way.

It is a shame imo to use black landscape cloth with rock along the back of your pool. In a couple years it will be weed infested again. The small bed with the tree next to the black cloth looks under-sized in comparison. Have you considered removing all old & new black landscape cloth and making a deeper bed along the back? Fill the bed with low ground cover and short bushes/grasses/perennials/bulbs that are drought resistant to enhance the beauty of your pool and property.

That landscape cloth isn’t staying, is it?

@littlebug Zone 5 Missouri yes. the weeds are so bad, we wanted to find a way to prevent them. We are thinking of covering with rocks and using planters.

First, decide where the seating will be, then you can use a couple of palm trees to "frame" the beautiful view of your surrounding woods. Cold-hardy palms for your area would include Pindo (Butia capitata) and Windmill (Trachycarpus fortunei). In the summer you can put tropical-looking plants between the palms, such as cannas, castor bean, ti plant, tractor seat plant, etc.

First, I would remove the landscape fabric. It just doesn't work for more than about 1 year, and is detrimental to in-ground plants you might put in. The only way I'd leave the fabric is if I were using heavy stone mulch, and I'd double it up. But way better than landscaping fabric is epdm rubber roofing. Put that down for a few weeks in the spring when it's fairly warm. The sun will superheat the rubber and kill all the weed seeds near the surface. Remove the rubber before planting. . As long as you don't disturb the soil (thereby bringing fresh weed seed to the surface) it'll stay weed free for a long time. The rubber is also a better choice under stone mulch. Weeds will not grow on or through it. Just remember anything planted through it likely won't like the heat it produces on its roots. You can buy rubber new or if close to metro areas, remnants are sold cheaply on marketplace. You can reuse it over and over again. I used it for years in my vegetable garden, and around the pool equipment. I never had to weed very much.

Second, I would limit the use of container plants unless you are prepared to water several times a week, every week, during the growing season. If you want tropical, use a few limited containers for tropical plants that you can take indoors in the winter, like banana trees. There are some palm trees that might survive your winter if planted directly in the ground.

You do have beautiful surroundings. So, I would suggest low growing plants that allow you to keep your long range views. Whatever you plant will have to take the heat. Clumping grasses are your low maintenance friend. Maybe one or two Pampas located so as not to block your view. Karl Foerster is my favorite grass. Plant several spaced 3 feet apart. They are well behaved; don't spread much; aren't too tall; have year round interest. I would also suggest low maintenance sun lovers like coreopsis, betony, verbena, coneflower, black eyed susans, sedums, succulents like pineapple plant, alpine plants like mugo pine. For a ground cover, consider St. John's Wort (not the bush type). There are literally dozens of choices. Nothing is maintenance free (except rocks).

A few boulders help to naturalize and reduce the need for so many plants. Same with other hardscapes, like bird baths, fountains, and gazing balls.

If you are not gardeners but want it done right, use a landscape architect.