North facing garden advice

[NoIdeaWhyNow]

I'm relatively new to gardening and would appreciate some advice! I have a north-facing front garden and am looking at adding some plants that will provide some screening. I don't really want a hedge as that will block out too much light. Previous owners hadn't really done anything with the space - a couple of lavender bushes and that's about it. There's also a tree on the pavement on the right hand side that gives quite a lot of shade. I have a low wall so don't really have scope for climbers. Was thinking of a couple of camellias but not sure how fast growing they are. Any advice would be welcome - thanks!

What's your soil like? How much space have you got? I have a north facing from garden and have a ( much improved) clay soil. What did very well for me, but ultimately got too big, was Choisya 'Sundance'. Lovely evergreen golden foliage and white flowers in May. It's quite quick growing and seems to tolerate most soils. Camelias aren't particularly fast growing. Lavender is probably the worst plant for that spot! Lonicera nitida 'Baggesen's Gold' grows quickly and can be clipped. Nandina, Viburnum tinus are other evergreen. I have a Miscanthus which does well too.

Eeek, I've no idea what kind of soil it is. Worms seem happy enough in it. I'm in London if that makes a difference. The border is just over a foot deep I think. Miscanthus sounds interesting - I'm looking for something with some texture and interest. This may hit the spot and I could plant some flowers at the base/in the gaps?

You're likely on clay. I also have a (tiny, 2 m²) north facing front garden in London) - with a fence though, so I have a few clematises. Could you put in a metal obelisk (maybe chained up...), or attach a wooden trellis to the low wall?

How high does it need to be? Evergreen or not? A holly could work. There are some Japanese anemones that get to about 5 foot/1m50. Maybe willow and dogwood but you'd have to water them over the summer. Council planting (so low maintenance, reliable) round here is mostly mahonia, and, as per @AlwaysGardening, Choisya aka Mexican orange blossom.

Wouldn't bother with camellia, they're very very slow growing and will definitely block your light once they're at privacy height.

Be careful with pots of pampas grass in case you get some unexpected callers 😂

Hydangeas make lovely informal flowering hedges in a cooler garden. They come in many sizes and types and can grow to 2 meters tall (some even more).
Mophead hydrangeas keep their seed heads over winter, providing an interesting architectural feature.

How about some variegated euonymus?

Perennial geraniums for ground cover, and annual geraniums in tubs for colour, these are the bedding plants I find best in shade. You could try perennial Salvia. A lot will be trial and error depending on where you get the most sun. Euphoria (wood spurge) is pale green and bright, no flowers.
Try putting in some spring bulbs for next year and see what works.

Pheasant’s tail grass might work, I have it in my north facing front garden and it looks lovely and doesn’t grow too big. Some miscanthus grow to 3+ metres, so choose carefully. How about Japanese maples? They don’t like too much sun so could be an option. The sango kaku variety has bright red bark, which looks good in winter after the leaves have fallen. Or fatsia japonica, they are evergreen, bomb proof and can be pruned

Thanks everyone, lots to think about.

@Agapornis didn't realise that was still a thing with pampas grass! I have some Japanese anemones elsewhere in the garden so can transplant some of them into the border.

@brambleberries good call on hydrangeas. Thinking of a mix of these and some of the taller upright miscanthus.

Camellias are happy with a bit of shade and they stay evergreen so you’d get year-round screening and they could work really well. The only downside is they’re not especially fast growers and it might take a while for them to really fill out. If you’re not in a rush though, they can look really nice once they settle in!
You could also mix in a couple of other shade-tolerant shrubs like skimmia or sarcococca just to give the space a bit more structure without creating a solid hedge. That way you get some privacy but it still feels quite light and natural. As for the shadier spots near the tree, things like ferns or hostas usually do well and help fill things out.
Sketching the overall layout might help. There are garden planning tools (like https://gardenbox3d.com/ or similar) that come in handy, especially if you aren't sure about planting positions. Sometimes what you have in your head doesn't work quite well in reality, and you don't want to plant things only to hate the look afterwards! been there, done that 😅