SampleS only not for releaSe© 2010 UnIVerSal UClICK

SampleS only not for releaSe© 2010 UnIVerSal UClICK

Today’s residential pools provide cool inspiration for both homeowners and their backyards alike. Now, more people are swimming in style with splashy features built around their in-ground pools. Pool extras such as fountains, waterfalls and customized swim zones allow swimmers to soak up the sun and waterside atmosphere. People are designing pools to create a resort-like atmosphere in their own backyards, according to Kirstin Pires, communications direc-tor for the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals (APSP), based in Alexandria, Va. “Today’s builders aren’t just dropping in one-size-fits-all, kidney-shaped pools into back-yards,” she says. “Homeowners want a pool that complements both their yard and lifestyle.” Today, Americans take the plunge in more than 8 million backyard pools, according to 2009 data from APSP. But the notion of swimming laps in luxury isn’t a modern one. Dating back to 215 B.C.E., ancient Romans built piscinae publicae (pub-lic fish ponds) for swimming and exercise. Wealthier Roman citizens built their own private pools with tile finishes and circulated water. By the 1920s, chemically treat-ed swimming pools began to appear more regularly throughout the world and were considered to be an indul-gence of the rich and famous. By 1970, a majority of the 1 million pools in the United States were the private, backyard variety. Today, people want a backyard pool to beat the heat, says Pires, but they also want one to make their home a gathering place for summer entertaining. “Having a custom-made backyard pool is part of a larger trend to create additional living space out-doors,” she says. “Now, a backyard pool can even reflect part of a home’s architecture. You can create instant visual continuity by accenting your pool with the same tile found on your kitchen backsplash.” More homeowners are diving into swimmingly sublime features for their backyard pools, says Dick Dal Pino, president of Dal Pino Quality Pools in Auburn, Calif., for 30 years. “The pool industry has evolved into more than just filling a hole in the ground,” he says. “Consumers are educated about options they want, and each pool we build is unique and built around the

personality of the homeowner.” Dal Pino encourages homeowners to make a pool plan before construc-tion begins. “Consider if you want to have a lap pool for exercise or a recre-ational pool with water slide or diving board area,” he says. “If you want to entertain around the pool, consider decking materials, traffic patterns and the placement of other outdoor ameni-ties, such as a fireplace.” Still other homeowners want to retreat to the backyard and have their pools become part of an oasis, set in a naturalistic setting. Dal Pino says no matter the size and style of pool, many homeowners are incorporat-ing splashy add-ons that may include some of these elments: -- Cascading and flowing water features. An infinity-edge (or nega-tive-edge or vanishing-edge) design gives the illusion of water merging with the surrounding landscape. Pool water spills over the edge into a hid-den catchment basin that makes the water appear to be suspended in mid-air or vanish when viewed from cer-tain angles. Fountains and waterfalls are also popular amenities that incor-porate the sound of running water. -- Customized swim zone. Free-form or lagoon-style pools allow homeowners to build a pool that fits the landscape. Zero-depth (or beach) entries feature a gradual slope into the water. Sun ledges or shelves are a shallow area (usually no deeper than 18 inches) made for lounging and playing with small children. -- Illuminating the subject. Gone are the days when a single floodlight mounted on the side of the house is sufficient lighting for a pool. What started with fiber-optic lights has now

evolved into underwater light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which cast cool lights in blue, green, red or white colors. To avoid getting soaked, Dal Pino says it is important to make the sure the pool designer has a certified building professional (CBP) designa-tion. “There’s a lot more technology involved in building pools today,” he says. “There are specific flow-rate criteria for recirculation of water that must be met so a pool can be main-tained in a cost- and energy-efficient way.” Building codes, such as a fence or wall around the pool, must also be met for safety standards. “The pool is not a baby sitter and should always be enjoyed by children under the super-vision of adults,” Pires says. “When kicking off the swimming season, it’s important to go over water-safety rules at your pool and have layers of safety precautions in place.” Balancing safety with swimming makes for an enjoyable poolside expe-rience, Pires says. Besides fencing and gates, other safety strategies include pool covers, float line, life ring and/or shepherd’s hook, posted emergency information with outside telephone, and anti-entrapment drain covers and fittings. Pools with cool design elements -- waterfalls, fountains and sun ledges -- create a relaxed, personalized set-ting outside the home. “More people have come to view designing a pool in the same way they care about design-ing their house,” Pires says. “People don’t just have a pool in the backyard, they want to create an outdoor envi-ronment.”

HOME TOUCH by Mary G. Pepitone

COOL POOLS

This pool feaTures a bridge, Three cascading waTerfalls made of moss boulders and is sur-rounded by a deck for enTerTaining. crediT: associaTion of pool and spa professionals

Every garden should be a rose gar-den. Roses have a reputation as fin-icky plants that need more attention than a 2-year-old, but when you plant the right roses, they flourish in your garden, and the care you give them is repaid generously -- with more flowers than you can count, and plenty of old-fashioned garden romance. “I don’t think much can match a rose,” says Stephanie Cohen, a garden designer and author known for her unre-served opinions about plants. Cohen, author of “The Nonstop Garden” (Timber Press, $20), gave up growing needy, dis-ease-prone roses years ago, but made room for roses in her garden again when she discov-ered low-maintenance Knock Out and other vigorous, hardy, disease-resistant shrub roses. “There’s a certain ambiance to roses, and a good rose in a mixed border is an asset,” she says. One hardworking rose bush is a good start, but you needn’t limit yourself -- it might be just the beginning. Michael Marriott, a garden designer with David Austin Roses (www.davidaustinroses.com), recommends making room for bold groups of roses that will stand out in a flower bed among annual and peren-nial flowers. When he designs gardens, he might choose one spectacular rose for a small flower bed, or a cluster of 10 roses in a very large mixed border. Then he mixes things up. “My golden rule is to plant some-thing wildish with roses,” he says. Verbascum, foxgloves and other tall, spiky plants are classic companions for roses, and even though they may be very carefully placed in the design, they often look as though they had found their own spots in the garden naturally. Marriott also likes to com-bine roses and eryngium (sometimes called “sea holly”), which has striking round flowers surrounded with bris-

tling collars. “You want contrast,” he says. David Austin Roses, also known as English roses, caused a sensation when they were introduced in the U.S. about 20 years ago. English roses -- many with evocative names from the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer

-- were hybridized for their volup-tuous flowers, and they also appealed to gardeners who were disappoint-ed by the lack of fragrance in other modern hybrids. Gardeners were also frustrated by older varieties (though beautiful and sometimes fragrant) that succumbed to every passing bug and blight. The time was right for a rose revolution. “David Austin did the rose public a service, focusing on the essential bedrock character of the rose,” says

Steve Hutton, president of Conard-Pyle (www.conard-pyle.com), which introduced the prolific, non-stop blooming Knock Out rose about 10 years ago. The cherry-red Knock Out was soon followed by a double-flow-ering variety, and other colors and styles -- all with the words “Knock

Out” in their name. Then Flower Carpet groundcover roses and French Meidiland shrub roses swept onto the scene. These tough shrub roses did not lose their leaves in midsummer to mysterious diseases, and they were easy to grow alongside cottage-garden flowers of all kinds. “That’s when I got back into roses,” Cohen says. “They work really well, they do not get blackspot, and they are tough as nails. You could practically run your lawn-mower over them.” In an all-rose garden, plant diseases or an infestation of bugs can swiftly cause seri-ous damage, but a garden that includes other plants is a healthy environment in balance with nature, says Marriott, who does not spray the roses in his garden in England or recommend it for American gardeners. Modern roses have earned prominent places in sunny gardens. They are striking enough to plant by a garden gate or the front porch, and they’re easy to grow in flow-erpots. Garden designers have paired roses with ornamental grasses and with herbs; they clamber gracefully along a

fence rail, and can be trained up to cover an arbor or trellis. Let new roses have a little bit of extra space to grow for their first year or two, Marriott suggests, and then you can let annuals and perennials jostle them a little. Try roses with geraniums, dianthus, asters, daisies or dahlia, he says. “That’s the fun part of gardening,” Marriott says, “seeing what you can put with them, order-ing new plants, seeing how well they develop.”

THE WELL-DRESSED GARDEN by Marty Ross

MAKE ROOM FOR ROSES

roses are versatile plants that flourish with perennial flowers. “Break up the monoculture,” marriott says, and plant flowers, grasses and summer bulbs with roses. this pink rose is Hyde Hall, which has a fruity fragrance. CreDIt: David austin roses