Planting a Pool

When these clients decided that they wanted to have a swimming pool, they knew above all else that they did not want another box of blue water.

By contrast, as avid patrons of Disney World, the Princeton, N.J., homeowners had decided that their pool should be what they called “Disney natural” – not as completely naturalistic as a real pond, but natural enough so that they and their children could suspend disbelief and pretend that they were swimming in a pond.

Before we came on the scene, the clients had purchased an adjacent property to allow for the expansion of their outdoor spaces in a series of outdoor rooms that were to be functional while maintaining a natural feel. To that end, the couple brought in a talented landscape architect, Brian Meneghin of nearby Pennington, N.J., to begin brainstorming the project and establish design criteria.

The pool, for instance, had to have an adult area as well as a kids’ area. It also had to be [more]