What Can You do with Your Landscape During Winter? Well, Most Anything.

Most of what you are about to see - completion of the pool to the surrounding landscape, took place in less than three weeks, in the dead of winter.

The owners gained this property a few years ago and they weren't so unfamiliar with it, but it is huge in regard to landscape and its maintenance.

I have worked on this property several times, cleaning out beds, planting new ones and have helped bring in a few other professionals dealing with drainage, irrigation and removal of some old structures.

I have yet to get to my favorite on this property, pruning all these wonderful plants, particularly camellias, as this once was a nursery for camellias for the previous owner and I believe he actually cultivated/hybridized a few of his own. I will soon - I've been reassured. Enough of that.

I had gotten to know the owners and I know Mrs. L. had been talking about having a pool over a year ago. And, it was somewhat of a joke as Mr. L. would tell me privately, "That ain't gonna happen." I enjoy both these two, but I was so pleased when Mrs. L. told me, "I'm getting my pool." Yesss!

I truly thought none of this would happen soon, but in the next few weeks they had already lined up a contractor to build the pool.

To accommodate the line of the rear of the home, the patio and existing walkways, the pool level and its deck were built roughly anywhere from three to five feet above the existing ground level and most of the area around the pool needed to back filled and graded with not much room for a more gentler slope because of the plant life and surrounding beds.

Erosion occurred a few days after the concrete deck was finished. We selected a few plants for the immediate area five feet around the deck and took about 100 monkey grass (mainly liriope muscata, some spiata - huge saving) plants from around the property and put them next to the pool deck edge as a border and to slow erosion.

We later planted dormant (not truly, in this area) centipede sod, which is not easy because we weren't simply roughing up or tilling existing established earth. The back-fill was like walking on a sand dune. But, we added Earth Blend for some nutrient value, took our time and came out with a pretty graceful slope.

After two weeks, the plants looked as healthy as they may have or will in spring, or better, in the middle of January. We planted Purple Pixie Loropetalum, Kaleidoscope Abelia and Spreading (Prostrate) Japanese Yew. They may not stand out now, but they will in a few months. All are evergreen and will not produce many airborne petals or inflorescence, which is nice to have around a pool.

This was the pool project before pouring the deck. We had some heavy rains and this erosion was somewhat unavoidable.

We came over and recommended some plants in that four or five-foot area level with the pool deck. Some filling in was done on both parties' behalf and we hoped for the best.

This was the first priority, while the slope was also discussed.

Following is the pool and deck near completion, but there was still work to be done to somewhat give a finished landscaped look (and, to control erosion), which truly may not be appreciated for a few months.

Next was the dilemma: Earth - uneven, inconsistent, lacking in nutrients and unstable underfoot and definitely not flowing with the surrounding topography.  Adjusting such took much touchy-feely attention.

Nonetheless, once we hit April or May and all the grass has greened and all the plants are a little more mature and showing off, this change will be even more significant than the slight but substantial difference from just a few weeks ago.

I believe I have a few more things to do on this property and perhaps some plant maintenance over time. There is also some concrete work to be done and hopefully some much needed irrigation.

But, I can't wait until the day Mr. L. asks me, "Why the hell did you ever bring up the idea of a fire pit to my wife." "Well, she did get the pool." Honestly, they are a great couple, a team.

I do have the perfect spot in mind for it, but I'm not telling them just yet.

Honorable Mentions:

New Wave Pools - I liked what I saw of their work, but I was not the customer. I met the owner, Wes, enjoyed speaking with him and hope we can work together in the future.

Modern Turf - I purchased something from these guys a few years ago and I hate that I forgot about them. The salesperson and the two delivery people I worked with were great - they communicated well and were focused on the customer and my customer.