Imagine walking out your back door to find something akin to a luxurious Bali resort, rather than a mundane concrete rectangle and patchy grass. The sound of water cascading over natural stones fills the air. Lush tropical foliage caresses gently in the afternoon breeze. The pool is designed to fit seamlessly into your garden, as if it has always been a part of the landscape. This is what excellent pool landscaping in Perth can do for you. Most people get this entirely wrong, though. They first build the pool and then attempt to enhance its appearance. This approach is similar to completing tasks in the wrong order, resulting in no benefits at the end of your practice. Learning how hardscaping and softscaping work in concert from the outset is crucial. Why Most Perth Pool Projects Fall Flat Unbeknownst to most, the pool typically contributes only 40% to the overall enchantment of a swimming area. What accounts for the remaining 60%? That part is about how you hand it off to your landscape design. Consider those Instagrammable pool areas you’ve seen. The first thing to which your eye is drawn is not the water, but how everything goes.” The paving flow, the plant placement, the lighting that makes it enchanted at night. and with Perth’s Mediterranean climate, we have a huge head start there.” We can grow a magnificent assortment of plants that evoke that resort ambience: architectural agaves, flowing grasses, tropical-seeming palms, and fragrant flowering shrubs. Yet, in planning for outdoor areas, many Perth homeowners come a cropper by failing to account for our blistering summer sun or winter downpours. A pool landscape that’s beautiful in spring becomes a pain to maintain by February if you didn’t think it through. The Secret to Resort-Style Pool Design Want to know what separates amateur pool areas from ones that make your neighbours green with envy? It's all about creating zones. Professional Perth pool design isn't just about the swimming part—it's about creating distinct areas that flow into each other naturally. You've got your swimming zone, your lounging area, your entertaining space, and maybe a quiet retreat spot where you can read a book in the shade. Each zone needs to be planned with intention. Where does the morning sun hit? That's perfect for your coffee-and-newspaper spot. Where do you get that gorgeous afternoon light? That's where you want your outdoor dining area. The key is to create a logical flow that makes sense with how you actually live. One thing that consistently surprises clients is how much the elevation changes can add to the overall impact. A pool that sits at the same level as your house often looks flat and uninspiring. But drop it down a step or two, or raise part of your entertaining area slightly, and suddenly you've got depth and visual interest that makes the whole space feel much larger. Plant Selection That Actually Works in Perth By and large, the reality is most of us have no idea what plants to select to go around our swimming pools. People often choose plants that are either excessively extravagant, leading to frequent pool maintenance, or so conventional that they resemble a council building. What is the secret to creating pool gardens in Perth? Finding plants that seem lush and tropical enough to belong in a jungle but that aren’t really tropical at all. While true tropical plants evoke that same lush feeling, they cannot tolerate our dry summers and limestone soil; however, many Mediterranean and Australian native plants provide a similar aesthetic and thrive in these conditions. Architectural plants are great near pools – agaves, dianellas, and lomandras make for strong silhouettes without dropping leaves in the water. Throw in a few flowing grasses, such as fountain grass, for texture and movement. For palms, choose wisely. Phoenix palms and California fan palms are fantastic for our conditions. Coconut palms? Coconut palms will only cause agitation and look unattractive. Consider combining silver-leafed plants with deep green foliage; it’s strong and very sophisticated – while lighter colours reflect the heat from your pool area. Getting the Hardscaping Right This is where most DIY attempts really fall apart. Your paving, retaining walls, steps, and built-in seating form the backbone of your entire pool landscape. Get this wrong and no amount of pretty plants will save you. Perth's limestone base drains brilliantly (great for pools) but can shift if not thoroughly prepared. Professional construction means working with our local conditions, not fighting them. Material choice makes or breaks your look. Natural stone like travertine gives you that resort feel and stays cool underfoot but needs proper sealing for our climate. Exposed aggregate concrete looks fantastic and costs less, but quality depends entirely on who's laying it. Built-in features like seating walls and planter boxes need planning during design, not to be added later as afterthoughts. A smart seat wall can retain soil, provide seating, and house pool equipment – that's a design that actually works. Professional landscaping services handle all these hardscaping elements – retaining walls, limestone blockwork, exposed aggregate, and paving – as a coordinated project rather than separate jobs. Creating Privacy Without Feeling Boxed In Creating privacy around your pool area without making it feel claustrophobic is particularly tricky in Perth's established suburbs. Large pools were not a priority in the design of most lots in areas like Cottesloe, Claremont, or Nedlands. The old approach – planting a hedge around the perimeter – creates what designers call the "fishbowl effect". You end up completely cut off from your garden with nothing but a wall of green to look at. Better strategy? Create privacy in layers using different height plants, strategic screening panels, and clever level changes. Water features provide audio privacy too – masking conversations from neighbouring properties. Professional landscape design considers these privacy challenges from the start, creating solutions that feel open and spacious while still giving you the seclusion you need. Vertical gardens work particularly well in tight spaces, giving them maximum coverage without eating up valuable square metres. Water Features and Pool Integration Water features can turn your pool area from a normal outdoor space to an extraordinary one – and they’re not just for looks. They help circulate pool water to ease dependency on chemicals, disguise traffic noise, and provide movement throughout the landscape to bring the space to life. Key, however, is integration, rather than simply dumping some random fountain somewhere. Like spillover spas that spill into the pool. Raised water bowls can also serve as feature walls. Modifying features like these plays even better when designing and building a custom concrete pool. Natural swimming pools, which combine traditional swimming areas with planted filtration zones, are also trending in Perth, thanks to their gorgeous billabong-esque aesthetic. Lighting That Transforms Your Space After Dark Pool areas have the magic ability to transform into entirely different spaces after the sun sets. However, this transformation is possible only if you have properly planned your lighting. The majority of people tend to either over-light (hello, football stadium vibes) or under-light the space. By striking the right balance, you can transform your outdoor space from a daytime amenity into a hub of evening entertainment: Underwater pool lights: Creates a mood, but don’t rely on them for illumination Landscape uplighting: Adds drama by illuminating plants and key features Path lighting: For a safe passage with a touch of atmosphere LED strip lights: Under the coping or bench, to give that resort gleam. Hardwired systems: Dependable, especially in areas with variable sunlight The right pool area lighting transforms the space into something else entirely by night – a space you can actually use and enjoy at night instead of just to look pretty. The Maintenance Reality Check Let’s address something most don’t want to admit, like pool landscape design facts that are not sexy but necessary – maintenance. That beautiful resort-style pool area you’re fantasising about? It will need ongoing attention to look that way. But with some smart planning, you can have beautiful pool landscaping without making it a part-time job: Select the right plants: Place high-maintenance plants in spots you can actually get to. Add automated irrigation: Hand watering around pools is not only inefficient but also can be hit or miss during our dry summers. Strategise plant placement: avoid messy plants around the pool edge around skimmer boxes. Design-sensible choices made during construction will save you hours each week once you are living with your pool. It's worth getting this correct from the beginning. Working with Perth's Unique Conditions Perth's sandy soils and limestone base actually give us some advantages for pool landscaping that you don't get in other Australian cities. The excellent drainage is brilliant for pool construction, and the limestone makes level changes and retaining walls much easier to build. But you've got to work with these conditions, not against them. That free-draining soil means your irrigation design needs to be spot-on, and plant selection becomes crucial. Don't forget about our wind patterns either. Those afternoon sea breezes are lovely for cooling down your entertaining areas, but they'll turn your pool into a leaf magnet if you haven't thought about plant placement properly. The Investment Perspective The elephant in the room – there’s no getting around it; having your pool professionally landscaped is expensive. But neither was your pool, and who wants to spend real money on a pool and hem it in with something that looks like it was designed by a committee? Generally, good pool landscaping in Perth adds 15–20% to your pool budget but will add much more value than that to your property. Most importantly, it turns your pool into something more than just a backyard addition—it becomes the focal point of your backyard. Consider how much you will use your pool area over the life of the pool. Even a modest price difference between ‘blah’ and ‘wow’ pool landscaping typically amounts to just a few dollars per week when amortised over the project's duration. On the face of it, forcing them to do that properly is tough to argue against. Making It Happen Creating your resort-style pool oasis starts with proper planning – not just throwing a pool on the ground and hoping for the best. The secret lies in treating your pool and landscape as one integrated project from day one. This means coordinating pool construction, hardscaping, plumbing, electrical work, and planting so everything works together seamlessly. Try to do it piecemeal and you'll end up with that disjointed look that screams "afterthought". A comprehensive site consultation looks at how your space actually works – where the sun hits throughout the day, sight lines from your house, and how your family will really use it. Plus, there's all the technical stuff like council approvals and safety requirements that Perth councils are quite particular about. Here's the thing: very few companies can handle all these elements properly. Pool builders often don't understand landscape design. Landscapers might not know pool construction. However, ensuring everything is done correctly from the beginning is crucial. That's when you create something that becomes an absolute favourite part of your home. Principal Landscapes combines award-winning landscape design with expert concrete pool construction to create seamless outdoor spaces that work beautifully together. Ready to see what's possible in your Perth backyard? Call Cullen on 0402.902.346 for your free consultation....