5 Vegetation Tips For Your Pool

Spring has officially sprung in the Triangle of North Carolina and that has many homeowners working in their yards, planting new vegetation to add beauty to their backyard patio areas. But what about homeowners with pools and hot tubs? What kind of vegetation will keep their backyard looking beautiful without causing excess stress on cleaning and maintaining the pool area? Below we offer 5 vegetation tips for creating the perfect backyard for your home:

1) Keep trees away from the pool

Walking out to the pool ready for a swim and finding a pile of leaves instead can be an extremely frustrating experience for pool owners. Did you know that many of the deciduous trees in North Carolina actually lose their leaves in both mid-summer and fall? Changing summer conditions, shading and drought can all lead to trees dropping their leaves and making a mess in your pool! To combat this, Rising Sun Pools recommends keeping 15 feet between the edge of your pool and the trunk of the closest tree. This not only ensures that you won’t have as many pesky leaves in your pool, but also limits the shade your patio gets from the trees as well!

2) Don’t hide your equipment

Many homeowners and pool owners attempt to hide important (but at times unsightly) equipment with shrubs, bushes or other plant life. While this may be aesthetically pleasing, it can often lead to problems when your pool equipment needs to be serviced. For your safety, and the safety of any workers who may need to service your equipment, we recommend a 3 foot clearance on all sides of your equipment and a 12 foot clearance in front of any opening doors. These regulations are important on your pool’s pump and power distribution area, as well as electrical equipment such as pad-mounted transformers.

3) Research your roots

All homeowners planting foliage should remember that even small plants can have enormous root systems that may threaten concrete decking and other pool features in the future. Before you plant any type vegetation, you should remember to research how large the plant will grow and what form its root system takes. Plants like the Japanese Anemone, for example, grow incredibly large root systems not inherently apparent when planting. Do your research first so that you don’t make a needless planting mistake.

4) Be careful with exotics

We know that the beautiful HD pictures in home and garden magazines make exotic plants in the backyard seem like a fantastic idea! But gardener beware: exotic plants often require a great deal more attention compared to native plants. Even with time and attention, you are much more likely to see insurmountable diseases and death of exotic plants than you are with plants that are suited to our climate. Native plants are less expensive, less time consuming and will still look great next to your pool!

5) Have a good time

As with any addition to your home, backyard landscaping should be a fun process for you and your family. You’re creating a beautiful environment to build lifelong memories. Make landscaping your backyard an adventure and you are sure to create a beautiful finished product.

Rising Sun Pools works with a number of landscapers to make your backyard oasis dreams a reality. Be sure to ask about landscaping during your consultation to ensure that we are able to help you coordinate the perfect pool building project.