Have you ever swam in a natural swimming pool? There’s no chlorine, no chemical taste or smell, nothing to sting your eyes. Recently architect Alan Barlis, who designed one for a client in New York’s Hudson Valley, described the experience like this: “Incredibly blissful. Once you swim in one of these things you feel like you’ve been so refreshed. It’s like being in a Brita for an hour. It’s like taking the best shower of your life.”
It sounds as if we all should be swimming in natural pools, for our health and the environment’s. So why aren’t we? For one thing, natural swimming pools cost more to install (on average 10 percent more than conventional pools, says an industry spokesman). Perception is another problem, because some swimmers equate chlorine with cleanliness. Finally, a lack of uniform guidelines and rules in the US may make the idea of installing a natural swimming pool seem, well, murky.
On the other hand: incredibly blissful.
So read on for everything you need to know to decide whether a natural swimming pool is for you.
What is a natural swimming pool?
Above: In Switzerland near Lake Lucerne, a natural swimming pool supported by a retaining wall on a steep slope “appears to almost float weightlessly out over the valley,” the designers say. Photograph courtesy of Biotop.
Think of a natural swimming pool as a chlorine-free zone. Instead of relying on chemicals to keep the water clean, natural pools have water gardens with plants that naturally filter and clean the water.
Industry pioneer Biotop, headquartered in Europe, has installed more than 5,000 natural swimming pools worldwide during the past three decades. Other industry players include Ellicar (formerly Ensata) in the UK, and Bio Nova and Total Habitat in the US.
How does a natural pool work?
Above: A natural pool at Plane Trees Lodge in Australia has a water depth of 6 1/2 feet. Photograph courtesy of Biotop.
‘But what shall I do with the garden?’ As an avid gardener with friends who have little or no experience in cultivating plants or designing a garden, this is a question I am often asked. Faced with a blank canvas, a limited budget, and next to no planting knowledge, many new garden owners find themselves unsure how to approach what could be their very first outdoor space. The answer, perhaps, is more simple than they think. Approach it just as you would approach a new home, with the same pragmatic starting points followed by largely subjective decisions.
In this story, my first in a new series on creating a garden from scratch, I offer pointers on how to begin your garden journey.
1. Assess the space.
Above: In Daisy Garnett’s garden in south London, one of the key features are the original mellow brick walls, which the writer has fully utilized with abundant climbers and a lean-to pergola covered in Pierre de Ronsard roses. The furniture includes vintage finds along with a zinc-topped table from Petersham Nurseries. Photograph by Clare Coulson.
Start with a clean slate. If the garden is overgrown, clear the surface mess to get an accurate picture of the size of the space, any paths or hardscaped areas as well as boundaries. Then make a scale drawing. What are the boundaries made from? Are there hedges that you can prune and shape? Or fences that are potential spaces for climbers? If you dislike a fence, it can probably be painted to create an easy and effective makeover.
2. Wait and watch.
Above: The perennial borders at Kiftsgate Court Gardens are packed with a succession of roses and perennials. Photograph by Clare Coulson.
It’s all too easy to go charging in, loppers in hand, and remove plants, shrubs, or trees, especially if you are assessing the garden in a season when little seems to be in flower or leaf. Instead of being hasty and potentially making bad pruning decisions, spend time watching the garden, ideally for a year—it’s the best way to begin. This gives you time to really get a sense of how light moves through the garden in different seasons (it will dramatically change from summer to autumn or winter). And it also offers you a chance to see how shrubs and trees look in different seasons, too, as well as any herbaceous perennials and bulbs that may appear. Mature plants are very expensive to replace, so you want to be absolutely sure before you remove them from the landscape. Last, you’ll want to be on the lookout for any visiting wildlife, which will ultimately be a key element of your garden.
3. Make a mood board.
Above: On my mood board, a courtyard garden created by Somerset-based antiques dealer Jack Laver Brister—a masterclass in putting together an abundance of shade-loving plants, beautiful reclaimed and antique pieces, and lush evergreens.
Chances are, you will already have years of saved images on Instagram or Pinterest. (If you don’t, start saving—both are great methods to collect inspiration.) Putting these all onto a big board will allow you to figure out the landscape styles and plant types that you gravitate toward. Are your favorite gardens formal with lots of structure, or do they tend to be wild and naturalistic? Are your preferred plants blowsy and romantic, or do you lean towards the dynamic forms of ornamental grasses and new perennial planting? Look for the common themes, while also observing your own space and getting a feel for what could fit. If there are particular garden designers you admire, gather images of their projects, too; quickly, a certain palette and planting preferences will begin to emerge.
4. Pinpoint borrowed views.
Above: The otherworldly borrowed landscape in the south London garden of Will Fisher and Charlotte Freemantle of Jamb. Fisher added numerous antiques to the garden in a series of garden rooms but the icing on the cake is the exquisite spire of the local church. Photograph by Matthew Williams.
As rain events have become more intense and more frequent, you may have noticed stormwater from the street flooding your property, rainwater from downspouts carving gulleys into your yard, or a wet patch that never seems to dry out. All of these issues can be addressed with plants.
Jeff Lorenz, the founder of Refugia Design in Philadelphia, is known for designing immersive, native landscapes, but he’s also developed something of a knack for creating gardens that effectively manage stormwater. Refugia’s style is naturally well-suited to the task: The native plants that they work with are good at Lorenz’s three rules of stormwater management:
Slow down stormwater, allowing the ground to absorb the initial surge.
Spread the flow of water across the surface.
Soak water back into the aquifer with the help of deep-rooted vegetation.
Above: Refugia’s garden for the Bryn Mawr Film Institute manages runoff from the roof and neighboring parking lot through a mix of diverse flowering perennials and grasses with a variety of root depths.
Plus, planting densely, as Refugia does, is a stormwater management trick in its own right. “Rain gardens seem complicated, and sometimes they are for good reason, especially in larger applications, but for most residential settings, just creating larger, more vegetated planning beds has a great impact on stormwater issues,” says Lorenz.
Below, he offers tips on how to have leverage your garden to help with stormwater management.
Photography by Kayla Fell, courtesy of Refugia Design.
Reduce your lawn and increase your beds.
Above: The site at Bryn Mawr Film Institute before Refugia’s landscape redesign. The first order of business was to reduce the “green concrete” of lawn and replace it with resilient plants with a variety of root structures.
“Reducing your lawn has a massive impact on stormwater,” says Lorenz. “We call it green concrete because it has very little absorption quality.” Consider expanding garden beds. Fall is a great time to plan for this, as you can pile up leaves on the part of the lawn you plan to turn into new beds come spring (see Why (and How to) Leave the Leaves). Two places Lorenze says you should definitely consider expanding your beds are where downspouts flow out, and anywhere your border beds are close to a low, wet point in the lawn. “Bring your garden bed out to incorporate that low point.”
Rethink how your care for your lawn.
Above: Refugia dramatically reduced the amount of lawn in this front yard, replacing it with plants that will help to soak rainwater back into the ground while simultaneously increasing biodiversity in the landscape.
For the lawn you do keep, consider tweaking your care routine. Let the grass grow higher and mow less often. “If you have a thicker, taller vegetation above ground, that’s going to help slow stormwater down,” says Lorenz. When it’s time to reseed, consider reseeding with fine fescues (and gradually transitioning the whole lawn), or if you’re open to a bigger change, replacing the turf with a full fescue or sedge lawn. Lorenze notes that in trials at the Mt. Cuba Center wood’s sedge (Carex woodii) was the best performing sedge lawn alternative for the Mid-Atlantic that can tolerate moderate traffic. (For more on this grass-like perennial, see Trend Alert: A Carex for Every Garden.)
Irrigate less.
Your irrigation might also need some rejiggering. “We discover a lot of properties that are always at a point of saturation because they’ve got these robust sprinkler systems that are keeping the ground wet,” says Lorenz. The ground loses its ability to absorb water in an actual storm, if it’s already saturated, but if it has the chance to dry out a bit and it has more absorbing capability. Dialing back your watering schedule will also have a positive impact by reducing the water your yard consumes. The ultimate goal is not to irrigate at all, says Lorenz, “We aim to make irrigation systems redundant, by using plants resilient in your area, that don’t require long-term coddling.”
