For the best tropical effect - nothings beats Monsteras - lots of them - overlapping, Consider a travellers palm in the background (they can grow very large) - the above options will result in little if any leaf litter into the pool. If you put in some large monsteras - I would suggest a few smaller ones as well to create variation and make it look more natural. The above plants are relatively slow growing and will only require dead frond removal (at ground level) a couple of times a year. Ferns would look great in between (or Taro) but they grow faster and more maintenance is required. Either a good ground cover, or thick black plastic between the plants with a good thick layer of stones/ wood chips or similar. beware of anything too light which may blow into the pool during a storm. Below ground retic is always the best - but sometimes its nice to have a spray onto the leaves (perhaps a separate system) if you want to simulate the tropical rainforest thing whilst lounging in the pool at night.

Thank you! Xanadus are my favourite plant, am going to do a planter box that forms part of the pool fence filled with them, much like your picture! 🙂 would a golden cane be ok in that size bed? also, The pool is pretty thick concrete, but no worry with the roots??

we started with a collections of different pittosporums and some wattles arranged in clumps of three and five in three roughly parallel rows along curved mounds and then added lower growers on both sides with small casuarinas (easily grown from locally collected seed) and some deciduous trees.. our hedge was about 3-4 metres wide alongside a 300m driveway...wattles were great as they grow quickly (but don't last very long) but provide shelter while slower growers establish and it's always good to consider local varieties of trees and shrubs and our cold climate make deciduous trees a bonus for Summer shade and Autumn colour ..but if you need to grow a long hedge focus on starting with establishing the beds with good drainage, big rocks, tree trunks, rubble, old railway sleepers, a watering system and really thick mulch and use a greater number of small tube stock well looked after rather than thinking that bigger plants will fill the space quicker

All Lilly Pilly varieties. The neighbors begone one will grow 2m a year once established. Narrow Conifer trees (Italian Cypress, Thuja, Swans Gold etc). Gracilias Bamboos if you want 4+m tall quick in a year. They're tall, hardy and drought resistant but need regular trimming due to fast growth.