Plants for a Purpose – Plants for a North-Facing Garden

A good tip is to look not just for evergreen plants, but deciduous ones too. Because new leaves unfurling at different times of the year provide extended interest.

Ferns are another great choice for shady gardens. Plus, there are lots of different varieties for damp and dry soil, deciduous and evergreen.

Deciduous shrubs such as hydrangeas, deutzia, and euonymus all grow well in shade. And the leaves of deciduous euonymus cultivars, such as Alatus compactus, turn deep, fiery shades of red during the autumn months. This completely floods your shaded area with a fiery light until the leaves fall in early winter.

Euonymus alatus compactus (Winged Spindle)

This compact large shrub/small tree should be planted in partial shade, where the sun catching its spectacular autumn foliage can best be appreciated.

The leaves of some shade-loving plants have white or cream markings on their leaves, such as pittosporum, hostas and euonymus. Choosing a selection of these will help to lighten the overall feel of the garden.

There are a wide range of different leaf colours of pittosporum that grow well in part shade, as well as full sun.  Although their flowers are tiny, they give off a delightful honey scent and make a great choice for north-facing gardens. The best cultivars for shade are those with either silvery white or yellow leaf markings, such as ‘Silver Queen’ and ‘Abbotsbury Gold’. Both of these are quick growing and reach great heights. So, it’s worth noting these may not be as suitable for smaller gardens.

Pittosporum ‘Irene Paterson’ (tawhiwhi)

If you’re looking for a slower-grow, smaller Pittosporum that form a neat bell shape then ‘Irene Paterson’ could be an ideal choice. With its pronounced white leaf markings often changing to pink during the winter months, this makes a great additions to darker gardens.

The soil in many north-facing gardens tends to be quite dry. Especially if the garden has nearby mature trees or is surrounded by tall fences or buildings.

If so, make sure you choose plants where the label says they are suitable for dry shade. Moisture-loving shade plants will seldom grow well in that situation.

Top Tip:

Buy smaller pots of plants, as they will be less stressed by the lack of water around their roots when they establish.

Plus they will often grow quicker than larger specimens, with the added bonus of being much cheaper to buy!

There are several plants that will grow well in this situation.  Vinca, commonly known as periwinkle, will soon carpet bare soil.  There are cultivars with white, blue, and mauve colour flowers, all evergreen.  Vinca major produce fairly large leaves on stems that tend to rise up and curl over. Whereas Vinca minor produce smaller leaves on stems that tend to hug the ground and will cascade down a shady bank.

There are also some ground cover plants with shiny leaves such as ajuga and asarum.

Asarum europaeum (Wild ginger)

This plant has exotic-looking rounded leaves which will spread across the soil once established. Plus, it has the added bonus of handsome, short, purple-red flowers which appear in the spring amongst the leaves.

Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese spurge)

An easy-to-grow, low-growing, evergreen plant which produces rosettes of glossy, dark green leaves with serrated edges and upright clusters of tiny, white flowers in early summer. These contrast beautifully with the dark green foliage. Japanese spurge is perfect for carpeting bare areas of earth between deciduous shrubs or trees.  It will grow in full sun as well as shade, but the leaves have a tendency to develop a palish yellow hue in sunny locations.

There are a surprisingly wide variety of flowering plants that grow well in a north-facing aspect.

Snowdrops and aconites are easy-to-grow spring flowering bulbs that will self-seed gaily around the garden. Then followed by hellebores in shades of white, yellow and pink.

Helleborus x hybridus ‘Pretty Ellen Red’ (Hellebore)

The flowers on this beautiful cultivar are a deep burgundy red. And they are shown to best effect if the older, larger leaves are removed at base level in January.  The plants respond well if a deep layer of mulch, such as leaf mould, is applied around them in the autumn.

Hydrangea aborescens ‘Pink Annabelle’ (Hydrangea)

Hydrangeas flower exceptionally well in partial shade if the soil is reliably moist. The good news is, there is a large range of hydrangea flower types and colours to choose from.

The giant flower heads on the pink form of this popular cultivar are certain to be much admired.  Adding the white form will be sure to lighten the border and both will flower over many weeks.

Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’ (Beauty Berry)

Plant this shrub close to the path edge to fully appreciate the beauty of its almost luminescent violet-purple berries.

Other tough plants that will happily code with a north-facing aspect are Alchemilla mollis, Acanthus mollis, hardy geraniums, astilbe and Astrantia. And all of these produce flowers during the summer months.

Come autumn it’s still possible to have colour.  Japanese anemones will flower for weeks and, for a touch of the unusual, the beauty berry produces bright violet rounded berries!