John, this spot is on the east side of our house, and not too far away from the house, itself, which is a very tall two story structure. It does get shade in the afternoon, which is why I think a Kentia will do okay. From what I understand with Kentias in our area, they grow best in 35%-80% of full sunlight, tolerating direct sun only after about five years old. Any Kentia I'm going to be planting will be 5 years old or older, since I'm buying something in a very large container to get the height. I did discuss this at length with the guys at Junglemusic.net, THE "palm guys" in San Diego county (and probably for most of the western USA). They were the ones who suggested Kentias, as well as my landscaper and a few others. So, we should be okay with a couple of Kentias in this spot. Patty S.

We've got three Queens behind our pool... No problems w/invasive roots, so far, after three years (that was one of the more MAJOR items on the "Wish List"/Criteria when selecting trees for the pool). The only problem we ran into - when building the pool, re-establishing the lawn, etc. was drainage... Unfortunately, there's a slope on the lawn - that runs towards the pool. We have drains built into the concrete, but we did have an area of "pooling" where one of the palms was s'posed to go. I'd bought three 8' Queens, and was all set to plant them (spring before last), but when I dug one of the holes, I found a MAJOR puddle! Ended up having to put in a french drain... Two years later... We've got the three Queens along the backside of our pool, and they're doing very well. But they're all living in somewhat "different" conditions. The one on the far left (over the french drain) is now the fullest. The one to the right of the pool is in a pretty "wet" zone, and is planted directly above some of the pool pipes. She's surviving, but not going nuts or anything. The one on the far right is probably doing the best (in terms of the 'grade' in the yard, this one's the highest-up - and also planted directly above pool pipes) - she has no "drainage issues" and is definitely thriving. Unfortunately, I don't have any recent pics posted - but I will add them to my website - possibly tomorrow (weather-permitting!) And if I do, I'll post the URL :-) Anyway, they're all within 3-4' of the pool and haven't caused any problems so far... HTH -Nancy

not sure what gunite is, but looks like sheet metal or aluminum/galvanized, looks like its 4 foot sheets all around the pools the fllor looks like its cement has a shallow end and a deep end. the pools is braced down behind it every 3 feet or so, just no bond beam, kidney shape pool, only bond beam is beside th skimmer the rest of the pool doesn't have any.

Only issue with turf is my bad slopes on each side.. I'd like it all level with the coping all the way around, with concrete I was going to add steps.. any suggestions on a step to get to the turf?