If you plan to spend time poolside this summer, a colorful landscape will brighten your backyard resort. Plants not only improve the view, they psychologically soften the blow of the heat.

How much landscaping you tackle depends on your time, budget and energy. You may want to simply group containers on the pool decking. But if you’re so inclined, you could fill a border to soften the pool perimeter or spiff up that skinny space between the fence and the water.

As you plan, consider these do’s and don’ts in poolside landscaping:

Choose ovenproof plants that can withstand the reflective heat and glare from concrete.

Select plants that provide interest through the swimming season.

Avoid plants that drop leaves, fruit or nuts near the pool. This debris can clog drains. Some, such as pecans, stain.

Use fertile, well-draining soils in containers and beds near the pool. Good drainage helps prevent soggy soil and carries splashed pool water away from plant roots.

Many plants tolerate some splashing of chlorinated water, but occasionally flush the soil to avoid salt buildup.

Fertilize carefully; spills can stain pool plaster.

Add lighting for function and atmosphere in the poolside garden at night.

Flowering plantsfor sunny beds or containers

Never-tiring plumbago carries sky-blue blooms on cascading stems until frost.

Plumeria is a fragrant tropical available in several colors. Buy one in bloom, if possible, so you can determine if you like the flowers and scent.

Foot-long angel’s trumpet blooms fill the night air with exotic fragrance.

Princess flower (Tibouchina) has beautiful rich-purple flowers and fuzzy leaves.

Yellow bells (Tecoma stans) loves the heat, offering up glowing yellow blooms until frost. Pinch the spent flowers to encourage more.

African bauhinia (Bauhinia galpinii) attracts butterflies with its sizzling orange-red orchidlike blooms.

Dwarf oleanders provide bilowy mounds of low-care color.

Hibiscus, tropical or root-hardy perennials, bring daily rounds of big, highly colorful blooms.

Russelia, or firecracker fern, is a workhorse with cascading, rushlike bright-green stems and tubular red-orange blooms. There’s also a yellow form.

Bird of paradise’s (Strelitzia nicolai)orange and blue “beaky” blooms are a conversation piece.

Other bed and container partners: Agapanthus, daylilies, summer phlox, coneflowers, rosemary, bulbine, angelonia, bush cleome, melampodium, purslane, zinnias and vinca.

Non-flowering options

'Black Magic’ elephant ear(Colocasia esculenta) has enormous, nodding tropical leaves, a perfect waterside attraction.

Ornamental bananas bloom, but their bold leaves are the real attraction, a cooling presence.

Sun-tolerant coleuses create 3-foot-plus leafy mounds of striking colors. Pinch the tips to keep them bushy. Color-streaked crotons are another option, with big, smooth leaves.

Cardboard palm(Zamia furfuracea) is a low-growing cycad with a rosette of thick, leathery leaves.

Graceful ornamental grasses add movement by still waters.

Accents and screens

Tall tropical accents include palms, plumerias, clumping bamboos, nandinas, bananas, brugmansias and oleanders. Group them for more privacy. Ever-tough nandina is ideal for screening pool machinery; it tolerates hot air.