It was a
house built with leisure in mind. The three-story, Diamond Head home
has a theater with stadium seating, a fully equipped gym and a great
room that is truly great, occupying nearly an entire floor. The
5,000-plus-square-foot home has only two bedrooms, but, with all the
possible activities available, sleeping seems like a waste of time.
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| Club Diamond Head: A tranquil, landscaped wading pool is just a prelude to more excitement down below. |
The
property’s outdoor areas needed to be equally as active and relaxing as
the luxurious indoors, something similar to what you’d find at a hotel.
The lot, located on a slope, and surrounded by numerous, multi-storied
homes, was less than resort-size—a shade under 10,000 square feet. Less
than 2,000 square feet of land (on a grade) was left to carve out an
entertaining area that was reminiscent of a Neighbor Island resort. A
pool, spa and generous patio were essential. A waterfall would be nice
and a waterslide would be a blast.
The
resulting mini-mega pool follows the home down the slopping hillside.
It starts at a shallow, tranquil, pond like pool, meanders to a spa and
then a cozy seating area, before emptying out into a larger body of
water with a waterfall and a slide. The multilevel water feature,
capable of accommodating several groups of guests, was finished with a
natural-looking lava-rock veneer and surrounded by a bright flagstone
deck. It looked like a mountainside retreat, but, just like a mountain
side, filled with rock and exposed to the blazing sun, it was also hot.
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| Splash
Mountain: Extensive lava rock hardscapes give the water feature a
natural look, but they raise daytime temperatures significantly.
Surrounding plants need to stand up to the heat. |
Sunny
and hot are ideal conditions for a swimmer or sunbather, but they’re
not so great if you’re a plant, at least many varieties of flowering
bushes and trees. The water feature needed greenery and color to soften
up the hard edges of its lava rock. But what plants could stand up to
the full sun, high temperatures and occasional salty gusts from the
ocean, which was less than a half-mile away?
“We
did the infrastructure work early, putting in the wiring and the
sleeves for irrigation and drainage as the hardscape was going up,”
says Steve Dewald, owner of Steve’s Gardening Service. “Doing that was
important for a job like this, because we knew we’d have small pockets
of plants that would be hard to get to and irrigate.”
Dewald’s
second priority was to choose his plants wisely. The area is well known
for its hot, arid conditions, but the water feature’s abundance of dark
rock would increase the already high temperatures. He needed plants
that wouldn’t wilt under these conditions and could withstand high
winds and occasional salty winds. The plants also had to be relatively
tidy. A lot of leaves and flowers falling into the pool would create a
maintenance nightmare. In addition, because neighboring homes were in
such close proximity, the owner wanted the pool area to have plenty of
natural screening.
Dewald’s
first answer to these requirements was the extensive use of palm trees.
Along the perimeter, he planted a combination of thick areca palms and
bushy foxtail palms, a moving wall of green that provided an upper
level of shade. In this cool canopy, he installed hardy, shade-tolerant
plants, such as “Xanadu” philodendron, as well as a variety of ti
plants. In the open “pocket” areas within the lava rock, he planted
super-hardy plants, such as phoenix palm and asparagus fern.
The
area is not without flowers or color. Near the front entryway to the
house, Dewald planted a dwarf plumeria tree, which produces numerous
bright, petite blossoms. In addition, a gardenia tree sits in a nearby
rocky planter, and there is also a hedge of brightly variegated Song of
India. Every planting area and nook and cranny in the landscape is
irrigated (mostly with a drip system) and lit.
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| (top)
Lyrical Leaves: The melodiously named Song of India is a lot tougher
than it looks, able to thrive in full sun and windy conditions.
(bottom) Living Green: The jungly Xanadu philodendron appreciates a
light shade throughout the day. In return it rewards homeowners with
vibrant green, frond-like leaves. |
 |
“Palms
are a good idea, because they don’t produce much rubbish and debris,”
says Dewald. “We stayed away from the flowering stuff, because of the
pool. Nothing we planted drops much foliage, so the landscape is pretty
low maintenance. And not only are the plants wind and salt tolerant,
they can get sprayed with chlorinated water from time to time, since
that’s what happens when you’re having fun in your pool.”
While
not too many people have the resources to put a fully featured
super-pool in their backyard, there are several important lessons
homeowners with pools can learn from Dewald’s mini-resort project.
First, is there is the issue of plant selection. Generally, you want
something tough that will thrive in full sun, but won’t produce much
garden debris. “You can forget about bougainvillea and shrubs like
that,” says Richard Long, of Reliable Landscaping & Sprinklers.
“Just too many flowers everywhere. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t
have color or fragrance in a landscape with a pool. Put the hardiest
plants near the pool deck, like phoenix and dwarf date palms. And if
you can create a shady area nearby, you can plant things like gardenias
and white and blue ginger. You’ll get the best of both worlds.”
Homeowners
need to be careful how they create those shady areas. In general, trees
and pools aren’t a good mix. Not only do they drop leaves into the
water, but some species have invasive roots, which can do severe damage
to a pool’s decking. “Whenever you’re landscaping, you need to pay
attention to the structures in the area, whether it be a pool or a
home. Take into account several years of growth and look at where that
will put you,” says Gary Shinn, of Hokuahi Lawns. “If there is any
question that the roots will be anywhere near that structure, rethink
your choice of tree or put down some kind of root barrier.”
Because
of the extreme heat around a pool, Shinn strongly recommends that
homeowners install an irrigation system, even though they may think
that their landscape can be hand watered. “People always think that
they can easily water everything with a hose, and, at first, they do,”
says Shinn. “But everyone is so busy, eventually, they don’t.”
Once
homeowners have their infrastructure in place, they should consider a
few unconventional plants, especially if they have an unconventional
hardscape. According to landscaper Kevin Mulkern, pools designed with
extensive lava-rock structures may have many pockets for plant
material, but they often have little room for soil. Therefore, he
suggested using vine-like plants, such as monstera, philodendron and
syngonium, which crawl on top of the rocks and don’t have destructive
roots. These plants often cascade over the stones, providing a very
natural, rustic look to the water feature.
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| Backyard
Oasis: Plants placed in close proximity to a pool, such as this phoenix
palm and asparagus fern, should not only be able to tolerate high
temperature but also the occasional splash of chlorinated water. |
In
addition, many bromeliads can thrive with almost no soil at all. “We
sometimes use glue guns to attach bromeliads to a wall face,” says
Mulkern. “Eventually, the roots will take hold and they do very, very
well. However, be careful to choose the right bromeliad. You want the
ones that do better in desert conditions.”
According
to Greg Lee, of Landscapes by Tropical Images, when landscaping around
a hot pool deck, going native is a good bet. Lee, who specializes in
the propagation and installation of Hawaiian plants, says that many
native grasses, bushes and ground covers thrive in the desert-like
conditions around a pool. Pohuehue, akia and naiopapa all do well. To
cool off the area, he recommends hapuu fern, which, as long as it is
kept moist, will flourish and give your garden an exotic feel.
Lee
says that these natives should be mixed with other tropical plants to
get the right balance of texture and color. “If properly placed, some
of the newer plumeria varieties will provide a lot of visual interest
to your landscape,” says Lee. “Plumeria come in a wide variety of
colors and sizes, so they can really add a little wow factor to your
landscape. But first, in a landscape like this, start with some of the
natives. Full sun, extreme heat, high winds, salt, they just laugh at
those conditions.”
