40 Stunning Ways to Landscape Around a Swimming Pool

Turn your basic swimming hole into a relaxing oasis with these creative ways to use low-maintenance landscape plants, hedges, rocks and more in your pool design.

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By: Jeff Stafford and Maggie Tharp

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Photo By: Craig Reynolds Landscape Architecture, photo by Tamara Alvarez

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Lovely + Low-Maintenance

For a low-water landscaping solution, opt for a variety of plants that can handle being planted in rocky, potentially dry, settings, like those in this rustic, Mediterranean-style courtyard.

Lush Oasis

Creeping plants are the perfect accessory to pool areas where you want to soften the building materials and add a romantic touch to the surroundings. Echo the natural look of this stunning poolscape by installing a mix of tropical plants and flowering, creeping ground covers such as phlox to fill in the crevices and corners of a natural boulder border.

From: Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers

Bed Head

Try out the "bed head"-style gardening trend in your pool landscape by pairing lush hydrangeas with scattered plantings of daylilies, ornamental grasses and more. This purposefully-overgrown look is a perfect complement to the sylvan backdrop and curved edges of this cottage pool.

Hedge Your Bets

Clipped boxwood hedges and a luxurious green lawn add privacy and traditional elegance to this pool area. Whether you choose to float in the pool or enjoy a meal on the terrace, a landscape like this makes every summer day feel like a vacation.

From: Lear & Mahoney Landscape Associates

Paver Path

A new deck and Craftsman-style pool house give residents and guests a place to lounge poolside and enjoy the views. The stone path surrounds the pool and allows guests ease in navigating the area.

From: Barker Evans Landscape Architecture

Mix It Up

An intriguing lawn design with hardscape surfaces blends in naturally with a tropical landscape in this alluring landscape by Craig Reynolds Landscape Architecture.

Seamless Swimming Pool

This 12,000-square-foot contemporary Florida home is located on one and a half acres of land. To keep the land eco-friendly, the lawn is synthetic grass. A sleek swimming pool seamlessly meets the lawn and is the perfect spot to relax outdoors.

From: Choeff Levy Fischman

Paradise Lagoon

If you want to transform your swimming pool into a tropical movie set, you can’t do much better than this design which incorporates the sort of wild vegetation you’d find around a Pacific island lagoon.

Asian Fusion

This Asian-inspired poolside landscape features clean lines, simple concrete pavers that echo the shape of the house behind it, stunning statuary and a beautiful mix of drought-tolerant shrubs, grasses and plants. Bring the serenity of this Asian style to your own pool with tidy beds and plants such as mondo grass, pine, Japanese maple trees and bamboo.

Terraced Greenery

This backyard's pool and patio offer lots of options for chilling out or hanging out. The terraced landscaping provides greenery, giving the backyard space a lush look.

From: Scenic Landscaping

Lush Tropics

The pool's pretty turquoise is a bewitching pairing with the tropical garden's luscious green. Surrounded by lush greenery, this pool seems to be a tropical secret garden.

From: Craig Reynolds Landscape Architecture

Soothing Fountains

Privacy inspires the design in this backyard, which is located along a busy road. Bubbling fountains add splashing sounds, accompanied by the gurgling of a stream over stone stairs. The fountain and stream are positioned so the water sounds are heard in each part of the backyard landscaping.

From: Mom's Design Build

Mediterranean Inspiration

A narrow pool stretches the length of the courtyard, the jewel in the middle of the Mediterranean-inspired space.

From: Paul Hendershot

Tropic-Cool

The mix of containers, low-lying rectangular planters, earthen hardscape and unique lawn pavers in this pool landscape combine to create a cool, relaxing scene. If the climate you’re in will permit it, copy this tropical look with plants such as banana trees and palms.

From: Studio H Landscape Architecture

Natural Beauty

This infinity pool seems to sit right at the edge of the world. The native grasses and wildflowers that surround this pool seem to have always been here.

From: Shades of Green Landscape Architecture

Taste of the Tropics

To give a special feel to all the different areas of this Key West backyard, landscape designers incorporated different materials like concrete pavers, gravel and native plantings.

From: Craig Reynolds Landscape Architecture

Wonderful Waterfalls

The once sloped backyard was unusable, but with smart landscaping, the space is transformed into a stunning swimming pool, complete with slide, waterfall and hot tub.

From: Distinguished Pools, Inc.

Clean + Green

This pool landscape is all about clean lines and a flawless lawn. Spend time on the quality of your lawn and the simplicity of your hardscape (like this simple layout of bluestone pavers), and you won’t need an elaborate landscape design to make your pool area feel luxurious.

From: Barry Block

Suitable for Framing

Strategically placed potted plants, border plantings of conifers, groundcover and colorful outdoor furniture acquire a unique symmetry in this highly visual pool design from Tidy Gardens Landscaping Inc.

Inspired Connections

Blooming potted plants, smoke-colored pool edging and a bridge over two connecting pools create a captivating composition in this design by Platinum Poolcare.

Moroccan Spice

Trendy Moroccan tile and healthy swaths of draping greenery pair perfectly in this gorgeous pool landscape. Copy the look by installing a sun-loving plant like Russian sage, which you’ll need to prune diligently and divide every several years for best results.

Credits: Architecture: Koffka/Phakos Design; Landscape Contractor: New View Landscape; Pool/spa and Masonry: Darin Marten Construction; Metal Work: Salvador Delgado

From: Lisa Gimmy Landscape Architecture

Fit for a King

This stunning combination of swimming pool and spa by Pool Environments, features a wall fountain with its distinctive laser cut steel sculpture mounted on a seven foot limestone and cast stone wall. The Mediterranean-style landscaping makes this pool space feel like a luxurious resort.

Blooming Beauties

An ivy-covered wall, pavers with grass joints and blooming flowers all-around help this outdoor space feel at peace with the landscape. In the center, a sunken swimming pool invites the owners to slow down and soak up the beauty of their surroundings.

From: Harold Leidner

Sleek Swim

Just a few steps away from the contemporary-style pool, a spacious patio doubles as an outdoor dining area. Meanwhile, tropical plants enclose the yard and help it feel even more private.

From: Leader Design Studio

Stone & Shrub

This simply stunning flagstone pool deck is surrounded on all sides by flower beds filled with whimsical boxwood shrubs. Potted palms add lush pops of green to the deck, making the luxe swim space feel tucked-away in nature.

Mirror Reflections

A swimming pool and a natural pond exist side by side in this delightful combination of nature and architecture from Armond Aquatech Pools.

Georgian Oasis

This multi-level pool design from Georgia Classic Pool features an array of beautifully crafted stonework. The surrounding borders enhance the private paradise ambiance with plantings of palm trees, knockout roses, gardenias and dwarf mondo grasses.

Lily and Erigeron Accents

Twilight time brings out the rich colors of nature in this stunning pool design from Kerr Constructions that uses lilies and erigeron for border plantings along with subtle touches of agapanthus and California poppies at the far end of the pool.

Nature Preserve

A rocky landscape with aquatic vegetation, flowering plants and the great outdoors generate a Walden Pond vibe in this natural pool design from Genus Loci Ecological Landscapes.

Postcard Perfection

Earth colored pavers of varying hues, raised beds, climbing vines, flower beds and lush green lawn transform this swimming pool into a picture worthy of a postcard.

Nocturnal Knockout

Nighttime lighting can add a whole new perspective to your pool area, especially in this design which spotlights the trees, potted plants, stonework and other vegetation that surrounds a swim zone.

Private Luxury

Japanese maples, towering border trees and synthetic grass from Easyturf provide ideal accents for this picturesque courtyard pool.

Liquid Carpet

A relaxed, out-in-the-country vibe informs this sleek beauty which includes recessed plantings along one side of the pool and an earth-toned paver walkway on the other. Believe it or not, this serene environment is only a few minutes away from downtown Philadelphia.

Dynamic Color Palette

A pool fountain highlighting the vibrant colors of its diverse tile surfacing makes a bold centerpiece in this pool design that is further enhanced by the lush green border hedge, flowering plants and rainbow hued decorative poles.

Let Mother Nature do the Talking

The emerald green lawn rolls right down to the edge of Miami's bay. Take in the sunset from the swimming pool or seated on the nearby private dock. The palm trees that line the water's edge, give nod to this backyard oasis' tropical location.

From: EWM Realty International

Above-Ground Glamour

This partially above-ground pool has style to spare. The stepped hill that hugs one side of the pool is an uncommon, yet striking feature and the landscaping meshes with the natural look of the Montecito, California location. Try a similar look with yucca plants spaced at regular intervals along your poolside garden beds.

From: Village Properties

Lawn Proud

Who doesn’t love the rich green colors of a close-cropped lawn that looks like a carpet created by nature? It this case it becomes the ideal setting for the aquamarine jewel in its center.

Contain Yourself

A pretty container adds a splash of color to this modern pool area and complements the lush lawn and contemporary design of the patio. Like the arrangement shown here, make sure to include a thriller (a high-impact plant with the most height), a filler (a medium level plant that will fill in space), and a spiller (a creeping plant that will grow down the side of the container). Want to recreate this pretty planter? Surround tall rosemary with deep red coleus and lime green sweet potato vine.

From: MESA Design Group

Follow Your Nose

Herbs are a beautiful option for pool landscaping — not only are they pleasing to the eye, but their robust fragrances can transform your pool day into a relaxing trip to the spa. In this photo, bountiful swaths of low-maintenance lavender surround the pool area, with ornamental grasses as a backdrop.

SEE MORE: How to Use Herbs in the Landscape

From: Davis Landscape Design

Rock Steady

A combination of natural boulders, rocks and pebbles connect two pools via a waterfall stream in this soothing design which adds a touch of the tropical with elephant ear plants and palms.