Pool Landscaping Ideas If You Are On A Budget In Australia

Creating an interesting landscape around your pool can be challenging, even more so if you are designing this area on your own while working on a tight budget.

Luckily, there are many places for you to draw inspiration from so that you can create an area around your pool that people enjoy spending time in.

In this article, we will provide a list of different pool landscaping ideas for those on a budget in Australia. Our themes include overall ideas, furniture suggestions, and lighting options to give you a wide variety of inspiration for designing your own backyard oasis!

Pool Landscaping Ideas On A Budget Australia

Add Green To Tight Spaces

If you have a small backyard, it’s likely that your pool and any necessary fencing already fill most of your available space. If this is your situation, one easy approach to landscaping in tight areas is adding greenery to walls and fences.

Low light options for vining plants include climbing hydrangeas, star jasmine, creeping fig, and ivy. In areas with greater light, you could plant passionfruit flowers or orange trumpet creepers.

You may want to avoid planting any flowering vines too close to your pool, as this can result in excess debris in your water.

Make It Tropical

To give your pool area a more tropical feel, you can incorporate elements of a beach getaway. We recommend starting by adding tropical plants such as varieties of palm, various ferns, and cycads.

If you are interested in adding flowers, some tropical suggestions include Sydney rock orchids and wax flowers.

You should also add beach-related furniture as your budget and space allows. Some suggestions for this include tiki torches for lighting, tanning chairs, or a partially enclosed fire pit. More natural, fire-based lighting options will fit the tropical theme better than LED lights.

Create An Oasis Retreat

When creating your own private, relaxing retreat, you are designing an outdoor space for rejuvenation.

The goal of this idea is to give your pool’s outdoor area a spa-like atmosphere, with a somewhat minimalistic design, lush greenery, cosy lighting options, a seating area, and added water features.

For adding greenery to an oasis-themed pool landscape, we recommend plants with broad leaves and deep green hues. Some excellent options include ferns, palms, and vining pothos plants.

Stick with a light colour theme for any furniture or gravel beds while providing contrast with select elements.

If possible, add a water feature, such as a fountain or an outdoor pond. This is not connected to your pool but should be turned on as necessary to create the tranquil background noise of a babbling brook or waterfall.

Many cheap DIY options for fountains are available because they can be created with a small submersible pump and lengths of tubing.

For an oasis retreat, we also recommend comfy outdoor furniture, such as padded chairs or benches. Fairy lights or LED strip lights can also be installed around the pool and adjacent seating areas to add ambient lighting.

Add Privacy With Hedges

Depending on the style of your pool’s fence, you may not have much privacy from your neighbours while swimming. By adding hedges to strategic areas of your property, you can obscure your pool from view and provide a more private swimming experience.

If you are taking the hedging approach, we recommend finishing your pool’s landscaping by adding more plants of shorter heights between the hedges and your pool. Some options for this include philodendron varieties, ficus scrubs, various succulents, and frangipani flowers.

If hedges don’t fit the aesthetic you’re trying to create but you appreciate the idea of added privacy, consider planting large clumps of tall grasses instead to achieve the same effect. Some choices for this include foxtail grasses, silver grass, and reed grasses.

Go For A Zen Garden

Whether you don’t have much of a green thumb or simply don’t want to risk adding extra debris to your pool by using lots of plants in your landscape design, you could consider adding a rock garden feature.

Mimicking the design of Japanese zen gardens, small beds can be filled with pebbles, larger stones, or sand to fit the colour scheme of your space.

Depending on how coarse the material you used is, you may be able to rake interesting designs into your zen garden. This might not be the best idea if you have young children or a dog, however!

We recommend topping off a zen garden with various stone statues, an outdoor fire pit, or added water features. We also suggest adding small amounts of greenery, potentially by using compact, potted trees for little pops of colour.

Conclusion

Many landscaping ideas are available for those on a budget in Australia - you don't have to rush out and hire a professional landscaper.

Typically, the best way to save money when adding landscaping features to your pool is by focusing on plants and greenery, as these are typically available at a much lower price point than outdoor furniture, water features, and stone landscaping elements.

However, some small touches such as these can still be added if you budget your money wisely.

Do you have any questions about pool landscaping ideas for those on a budget? Reach out to us in the comments, we’d love to help answer any remaining questions you may have!