Nothing refreshes like jumping into the sparkling water of your own backyard pool on a sweltering St. Louis afternoon. Karen Spreitler agrees.
But when that pool requires expensive renovation, not to mention regular maintenance, and it’s taking up valuable space on a tight lot, it might be time to rethink the definition of “refreshing.”
Get a weekly dose of home and style inspiration
Subscribe to the St. Louis Design+Home newsletter to explore the latest stories from the local interior design, fashion, and retail scene.
That’s what Karen and her husband, Mark, did after purchasing a home in 2012 in the historic Parkview neighborhood of University City. The house featured an in-ground pool that needed repairs (to the tune of $15,000) and would require even more extensive renovation to bring it in line with the Spreitlers’ tastes. They lived with the pool as it was for a few years, with friends, older children, and Mark enjoying it, but Karen was less enthusiastic.
“I wanted more garden space and a relaxing place to be more contemplative,” Karen says. She also wanted to lead a more sustainable lifestyle in her outdoor space by increasing vegetable production, supporting pollinators, and decreasing the family’s water use. To achieve those goals, she decided, the pool would have to go.
As a landscape designer, she had definite ideas of what she wanted in the new space. “Karen’s goal was to create a tranquil urban oasis in her own backyard, featuring native plants and vertical gardening elements to take advantage of the space available,” says Dennis Evans, owner of Quiet Village Landscaping, who did the demolition work on the pool, brought in the soil to fill it, and installed a flagstone patio designed by his client.
Filling in a pool creates a tub effect in the ground, Karen says, making drainage a significant challenge in managing the new landscape. “After bringing in 92 yards of topsoil and compost, there were still areas where it was a little boggy,” she says. “There were pockets of water we had to deal with, but if you pick the right plant for the right place, you solve the problem.” Cardinal flower proved an excellent choice for those areas; sweeps of grasses and penstemon were also used.
To take full advantage of the tight lot, Karen looked up. Using trellises and fencing, she began growing such edibles as cucumbers, beans, and tomatoes vertically. Karen also used the ancient horticulture practice of espalier, training the branches of trees and shrubs to grow flat against walls. “It’s great for tight little spaces,” she explains. “I had a pear tree and an apple tree, and once you get the trees going, you’re able to get a little more fruit from them, I think, by using this practice.”
The Spreitlers’ backyard received a gold certification from the St. Louis Audubon Society’s Bring Conservation Home Program for its expansive use of native plants and white fringe trees, sumac, black chokeberry, and serviceberry trees. The initiative offers advice and recognizes homeowners who champion environmentally healthy and sustainable native plant species, water conservation and other stewardship practices.
But the Spreitlers didn’t do away with water completely. After all, it was a challenge for Karen to convince Mark that the garden was the way to go. “He missed the pool at first,” she says. To bring back the soothing sound of water and provide a place for birds to drink, Mark, who’s trained as a mechanical engineer, designed a COR-TEN steel fountain and had it built by Troco Custom Fabricators. It doesn’t have quite the same effect as a backyard pool, which, Karen admits, was inviting, but the new garden has yielded a different sort of tranquility.
“I didn’t get into the pool as much as I got into the garden,” she says. “The garden is more soothing and makes me feel closer to nature. I feel like it’s my spot.”
Although the couple was pleased with the completed project, a $13,000 endeavor, the Spreitlers recently moved to a William Bernoudy–designed home set on an acre and a half in Creve Coeur (the house) and Olivette (the backyard).
“I have even more property to play around with,” says Karen, who’s already busy planning the installation of native grasses and trees, a tree swing, and a creek-side exploratory for the couple’s grandchildren.
