North facing window boxes

[KaptanKatanga]

What can I plant in them that'd look good (doesn't need to be flowers, greenery perfectly chic too)? So far, even ivy or rosemary died. Added bonus would be something that lasts (do they call those perennial?) . Any ideas?

Anyone?

I’d suggest that the ivy probably died from lack of water, it’d want the soil permanently moist, but not waterlogged. Rosemary is a Mediterranean plant so likes sun. Ferns would work, perhaps Polypody which grows on trees so could cope with the erratic watering in a window box. Or bugle (Ajuga) - there are nice ones with bronzy purple leaves, then you get spikes of blue flowers in early spring. But as well as liking shade, its a plant of wet places, so you really would need to keep on top of watering.

Annuals - seed grows into plant, flowers, sers seed and dies all in one year. Eg the poppies you see in “wildflower” plantings.

biennials - grow one year, overwinter usually as a rosette of leaves, then throw up an often big flower spike, set seed and die. Eg foxgloves

perennials keep going from year to year. Probably don’t flower the first year. Herbaceous perennials die back to just roots in winter, and shoot up again in spring. Eg peony. Non-herbaceous perennials are basically shrubs and trees. They may be deciduous and drop all their leaves in winter, or evergreen and drop their leaves a few at a time all through the year

I’d work on the principle of plants that like dry shade (and most of these are evergreen):

Bergenia
Brunnera
Euonymus- check the variety for height
Carex Evergold - there might be other Carex but this works for me
Ferns: Dryopteris or Polystichum are evergreen and like dry shade but you might need to check for ones that don’t get too large to block your windows
Heuchera
Liriope Spicata
Pachysandra
Vinca minor

I've got a row of North facing containers that get virtually no sunlight and I've found these grow well:
Erigeron karvinskianus (pretty pink daisies flower most of the year)
Brunnera 'silver spear' (blue spring flowers)
Polystichum setiferum: these are evergreen ferns so keep the interest in winter and early spring
Bugle
Trailing lobelia
Miniature narcissus in spring

Thank you all so much! Your diagnosis is right, I might have forgotten to water the ivy a little bit will look into these suggestions.

You really do need to feed as well. Compost in pots gets very tired, and runs out of nutrients, I generally empty out the compost when planting up,, and put in new. But even then, if you want healthy looking plants, they will need food. You can add slow release beads, or give food in their water, or both.

Thank you that's a great idea. Will look into those beads.