Dark shady area?

[Grandadwasthatyou]

The area to the side of my house is in the shade most of the time due to the shadow of the house.
Grass would not grow, it just became mossy and nobody sat in that area as it was too dark. So I have tried to do my best ( not being a knowledgeable gardener) have had the turf lifted and bark put down and put a selection of pots with shade loving plants. Eg rhododendron, ferns, heuchera etc.
I am now left with about a 5ft area of bare fence which looks very unsightly.

Suggestions please for a large bush or climber which likes the shade and north facing. What I do need to take into account is the weed preventing membrane underneath the bark. Would I need to pull it back and make a hole and then put the membrane back or could I get something which is happy in a pot?

And I know this isn’t related to my main question but for the second year running I have popped some nasturtium in pots with other flowers just to fill space. Lots of healthy foliage but no flowers whatsoever?! You can just see the nasturtium leaves at the edge of the photo.

Nasturtiums are sun lovers really, maybe try some begonias or busy lizzies instead, they are happy with more shade. There are plenty still in the shops now. When it comes to the fence, how about a variegated euonymus? It is a shrub, but they are happy to be trained upwards as a wall/fence covering, I've got one on a north-facing fence in my garden. You can get green & white or green & yellow. Another idea might be variegated ivy, but they can get a bit out of hand once they get going.

Hi , I’m also a beginner but have a lot of shade, clematis in containers are doing well for me, and probably would be even better on the ground

I got lots from Morrisons for about £2 each &’they are flowering well in their 1st year. (These are large enough pots - 14l buckets or 20l planters)

Morrisons have a lot of climbing plants on right now, I chose clematis as they like shade and also have long flowering period/can get ones that flower at different times if year

a climbing hydrangea could be nice too: personally I would always choose something that flowers vs foliage, and variageted foliage over plain

try under planting with something that likes shade: begonias/pansies/foxgloves/bluebells, Lily of the valley etc : there is a lot of choice

you could also have a (thornless) raspberry or blackberry plant growing in the shade - which is what I’m planning for another area if my garden

Adding some pictures: both of these plants were bought as 9cm pots for £2 this April / they are shoulder height now & blooming well. The 1st gets done morning light, 2nd (on trellis) is 100% in shade due to shadow of house

Thank you so much. Have bought a climbing hydrangea and some foxgloves. Just need to get somebody to put up a trellis now!

Climbing hydrangeas are happy with shade. I have garden membrane across much of the gravelled areas of my garden and I just dig a hole through it to plant - use some decent scissors too - seems to work very well.

@BlooberryBiskits those look good!

OP, I've read nasturtiums also prefer poor soil. So if you are feeding or it's good compost you might get more foliage than flowers. Monty Don suggested you could add sand or grit. I haven't as my best one is in a pot of year(s)-old compost and seems happy.

Climbing Hydrangea can cope with shade, although it takes quite a while to get going; if you can try to buy a big-ish plant as it will take its sweet time to start putting on any decent growth! Viburnum Tinus and Sarcococca are both evergreen shrubs that seem pretty bomb proof and can cope with a north facing wall. They also flower in the winter months which is so nice when the rest of the garden can be looking a bit sad. To add a bit more interest when the shrubs are not in flower Japanese anemone, solomon's seal, and foxgloves can all cope with a north facing aspect; you could dot these around the shrubs. There's some really tall foxgloves called 'Excelsior' that would look fantastic at the back.