Planting for a small north facing garden please?

[HannahinHampshire]

I’ve just had my garden hardscaped/landscaped and I’m very pleased with it. Patio, slate wall, a couple of planters. Still a bit of work to finish off - fences to paint, tree to lop back, stone to be added to top the wall. Now, I’m not a gardener and have no idea what flowers/shrubs to plant in the planters. I’m recently retired so have time to work on the garden now but low maintenance preferred. Garden is north facing but gets some evening sun. Thank you!

I have a north facing garden too. I expect that’s a photo taken now (as in this time of year)? My north facing garden (albeit we back onto a field, so the bottom of the garden is south facing if that makes sense a i pit the veg patch there) gets good sun from mid May ish when the sun is high enough that the house doesn’t cast a shadow in the middle of the day. Like you I’ve got two big beds either side of steps a bit like that where the decking goes into the lawn section. Things that work brilliantly (I’ve made them pretty symmetrical ish, but not exactly, other than the big shrubs which are places symmetrical):

• Two small Japanese acer trees (like this sort of thing at each end furthest from steps https://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/acer-palmatum-beni-maiko/classid.2000041404/)
• LOTS of hardy geraniums - pinks or proves, whatever you fancy
• I have a couple of roses - if you use the David Austin website you’ll see that some are fairly shade tolerant provided they get Sun in summer (I have Duchess of Cornwall there and they’re fine and flower beautifully!)
• I have these and they tolerate the north facing / shade better than any of the lovely echinacea type sun lovers : https://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/rudbeckia-fulgida-early-bird-gold/classid.2000016579/
• lots of alchemilla mollis

Up at the back where you’re essentially south facing it’s have terracotta pots of miniature fruit trees and lavender which would be lovely round chairs / a dining table.

Do plenty of bulbs too for the spring…

@legallyblond Thank you so much! I saw some lovely acers in the garden centre today and wondered if they might be suitable so will go back tomorrow. Looking forward to spending time in my new garden in the months to come.

Lovely! In my North-facing border (clay soil) there are the following shade-lovers: acers, astilbe (feathery pink or white flowers), vinca minor (evergreen ground cover), pulmonaria, camelia (evergreen, showy flowers early spring), ferns, brunnera (leaves with silvery detail and delicate blue flowers).

Mine is north facing and clay too.

Sorbus sotbifilia and Sorbus Copper Kettle. Acer Sango Kanu. Treailing rosemary. Ferns and winter heathers.

Sango kaku

Hydrangeas?

In the autumn plant as many spring bulbs as you can - daffodils, tulips, hyacinth etc.
i love purple wallflowers - tough and bloom from feb to November
roses
jasmine - evergreen and summer have coped well in my north facing clay London garden
i would suggest something big with some structure - a decent sized tree/ standard roses / something to give a bit of height

Cornus midwinter fire

As your garden is symmetrical, I would mirror the plants in both planters.
Choose three foundation shrubs/dwarf trees that have year-round interest so there is always something bright and cheerful to look out on.
Trim the lower branches/leaves from these shrubs to allow lower planting underneath. For bulbs planted in between shrubs choose dwarf varieties. The leaves will take up less room and look less 'messy' once flowering is finished.

Suggestions:

Foundation plant 1:
Dwarf and compact crab apple such as Malus Coral Burst; Malus Sargentii Tina; Malus Laura.
Or Japanese spotted laurel Aucuba Japonica Crotonifloria.

Foundation plant 2:
Hydrangea - such as Hydrangea macrophylla Mini Penny; Hydrangea macrophylla Little White/Little blue/Little pink. The seedheads will provide archetectual intererst in winter.
Or a long flowering or decorative leaf hebe;
Or a repeat flowering rose also bearing winter hips.

Foundation plants 3:
Mexican Orange blossom - Choisya Ternata White Dazzler; or Aztec Pearl. You might also try Sundance which has golden yellow growth but if it has insufficient sun it will revert to green. These shrubs are easily trimmed into the size you need.
Hebe or Skimmia Japonica;
or a Euonymus trimmed in a neat shape such as Euonymus Emerald n Gold or Emerald Gaiety.

All of these shrubs have year-round interest. If you want other shrubs (such as Acers), I would plant in large pots on your patio so you can move them out of sight during the dormant season.

Underplanting the foundation shrubs:
Evergreen
Smaller hebes (many varieties to choose from), Coral bells heuchers (many leaf colours), Helleborous; Cyclamen Coum;

Perennials (come back every spring/summer)
Geraniums with long flowering season such as Geranium Rozanne (purple); Geranium Mavis Simpson (pink); Geranium × Oxonianum Wargrave Pink; Geranium Sanguinium Album (white). These will spread eventually but just pull up where you don't want them.

Bell flower - Campanulas - choose a variety that thrives in partial shade and not too spreading.
Astilbe

Annuals - plant every year and remove after first frosts,
Lobellia, Begonia, Dianthus; Asters (some varieties). Foxglove (biennial - it flowers in the second year).

To add to what people have suggested so far: ferns, hostas (beloved of slugs), aquilegia, dicentra, astrantia, nicotiana, toad lily, hellebore, pulmonaria. Once you start looking there's lots of shade loving plants but lots flower in the spring so extending the interest in the border is the hard bit. The further north you are the more sun the borders near the house will get over the summer in the early morning and evening.

Thank you everyone for your amazing advice. I am so looking forward to enjoying the garden now (it was an overgrown jungle when I move in)!

Mine is N/E. My garden is about the size of your upper part of the garden. Our rose bush and bay tree are very happy (they've been there for about 20 years according to our neighbours).

Strawberries and sage also did surprisingly well.

Mixed results with daffodils so haven't bothered with them again but we don't get sun on the ground until early April which is probably why.

Acers or not will depend on your soil pH. They like acid conditions, so you may need to grow them in pots if your soil is more alkaline.

Camellia need acidic soil so OP would need to check this first

It looks great - can I ask how much it cost please ? Very similar to what we’re hoping to do, again north facing and looks a similar size.

No-one’s mentioned fuchsias, which love shade. There are some hardy ones, or you can have the non-hardy ones in pots and keep them inside over the winter. Nasturtiums and lobelia also like the shade.

@Nearlyadoctor sorry, not been on MN for a few days! Just over 9k, which seems a lot of money (it is a lot of money)! - but that included clearing the existing ‘jungle’, levelling, all the tiles, gravel, turf etc plus fence painting, jet washing and a bit of work at the front of my house (removing a hedge and laying down paving/stones). It’s been worth every penny to me, I’m enjoying spending time in the garden now that the weather’s improving. I also intend to live here long term so it’s a bit of an investment.

That’s great thank you, much appreciated you sharing our garden looks a similar size etc and we keep talking about getting it done so just needed a ball park figure 😊