A Pool Oasis Garden Plan

Handling a property with considerable changes in elevation from the front of the property to the rear is no easy task for any gardener or designer. Add to this challenge the requirement for a pool set in an existing hillside with an elevation six feet above the floor elevation of the home, and you have a difficult task indeed.

This landscape plan, submitted by John Cowen Landscape Associates Ltd. offers a wonderful example of how one might tackle such a daunting task. Cowen shows us that the elevation difference which at first may seem troubling is actually positive for two reasons. First, the home owners will be unable to see a covered pool during the colder months of the year. Also, because the pool is essentially hidden from view when inside the house or on the rear deck it provides the perfect opportunity to create a Pool Oasis Garden.

Garden Summary

The swimming pool garden is separated from the house by the use of terraced (planted) retaining walls and steps with additional walls behind the pool to take up the grade change there. The combination of the stone and planting is excellent, because it gives the client something wonderful to look at from the house and in addition it allows a glimpse of the pool area which intrigues the viewer to go out and explore that space. A variation on this is to add a waterfall fountain to your garden.

The planting plan is unusual in that half of that area is planted with shade tolerant plantings and the other with sun/shade tolerant plantings.

The Invite

At the rear of the house the client has a spacious deck where the viewer is allowed glimpses of the pool garden, creating a sense of intrigue to go up the steps and explore further. The viewer looks out onto terraces of beautiful John Brown stone dry laid retaining walls and looser plantings of Maiden And Fountain grass, Russian Sage, Boxwood, Blue Fescue grass and Spiraea 'Anthony Waterer'.

Maiden grass, with its' mature height of nearly seven feet provides a great screen to the swimming pool and gives white blooms from September to November as the season for swimming draws to a close. The aromatic Russian Sage provides contrasting flowers of lavender color and leaves of silvery-gray. Boxwood is of course a common favorite among designers for its' versatility and unassuming character. The icy blue Fescue adds to and completes the color composition for the terraces.

Blooming Oasis

The photograph below, taken in the late summer, shows both the Fountain grass and Spirea 'Anthony Waterer' in flower with the Fountain Grass in the foreground. The design also includes Crape Myrtle, Russian Sage, Spiraea 'Anthony Waterer', with the intention to provide the home owners with a flowering sequence from May to September when the pool is mainly in use.

The Feeling Of The Space

This photograph is taken looking from the pool garden towards the house. The 'Anthony Waterer' Spiraea hedge offers visual separation from the house. The image shows the 'broken' or irregular Misty Rose paving with groundcover Thymes and Sedums growing in the joints of the paving. There is a pleasant 'loose' feeling to the space, which is ideal for relaxation and generally enjoying the surroundings of stone retaining walls and mixed evergreen and deciduous ornamental plantings.

The swimming pool garden was built at approximately six feet above the finished floor of the house, built in to the existing hillside, creating an "oasis". One of the main benefits of having the pool garden separate from the house is that the homeowners do not have to look at a pool cover during the non-swimming months of the year.

The plantings Cowen uses to create the Pool Oasis Garden include:

About the Designer

John Cowen Landscape Associates Ltd. is a Landscape 'Design and Build' firm who caters to all ranges of client's budgets. JCLA is in it's 12th year of practice and has a large number of clients who return for additional work. It is our professional philosophy to involve the client in the design and build process as much as they wish to be involved. We ensure that we are on top of every detail, from the project's inception, to it's completion. We pride ourselves on the high quality of both our design and implementation work. Our website shows a comprehensive range of examples of our work and gives more information about the firm. We have had a number of our projects included in publications.