STYLE : Gardens : Waterscapes

A swimming pool that blends serenely into the landscape is one of this year’s most intriguing garden concepts. The pool itself doesn’t have to look natural. The sides needn’t be irregular, and the bottom doesn’t have to be black. The idea is to design the surroundings so that the pool appears to belong there.

In Brentwood, Richard Mosbaugh of Statice Landscape and Design in West Los Angeles created a pool that seems to spill right over the canyon’s edge, the water on its way to the sea. The effect is completely natural because slightly mounded planting beds help camouflage the pool’s coping and shape. Developer Steven L. Davis designed a hilltop pool among the natural boulders at his El Cajon home. Fake rocks hide pool gear, and water-saving plants ease the transition between land and sky.