Stupid question

[toomanyweeds]

Please bear with me, I am a very very novice gardener .

My front garden faces due south. At the very front there is an ivy covered wall somewhere between 1 - 1.2 m high. My question is, for the purpose of choosing plants for behind the wall, do I want plants suitable for south facing spots, or north facing?

If anyone has any ideas for what to plant there that would be amazing.. the ivy is staying as I think the wall may fall down otherwise..

The wall itself is north facing. When it comes to plants it will depend how tall the wall is. If it is a low wall then it will still get sun. A tall wall say 6feet will need shade tolerant plants.

There are lots that will go there. A good place to start is Pinterest. Put in “Shady planto for dry areas” if the wall is tall. Also “Border plants in Landscape gardening”. Make a board of stuff you like and start from there. If like me, you love grasses and want low maintenance, the. Start with Piet Oudolf. If you can visit gardens, I would recommend Beth Chatto, Great Dexter and Hyde Hall.

I'm not a gardening expert, but I'd say for you to track how much sun actually gets on to the area/s you want to plant up. Does it stay in the shade, get morning sun only, sun all day, etc. This can also change from winter to summer.

I then go on the RHS or Crocus plant finder website and put in 'sun', 'shade' etc. and leave the aspect (north facing, south facing etc.) blank. Probably if against a wall it's likely to be dry, so it could be 'dry shade' plants you need.

I think when there are structures close to a garden it can have a huge effect on the amount of sun and rain it gets. Our garden is small and enclosed by walls/other houses. It faces northeast but the border along the northeast wall gets loads of sun through the day, so my lavender and rosemary are thriving there. The border along the west-facing wall gets no sun, maybe some weak light at sunset in summer, so my ferns are happy there.

Here are some planting plans for shade

www.crocus.co.uk/search/_/search.shady-borders/sort.0/

I have a clematis Montana that does very well on a North facing wall, but it is rampant. A climbing hydrangea also works.