North-facing areas of the garden can, at first glance, seem daunting as they don’t get nearly as much sun as south-facing gardens. But don’t worry, it’s still possible to create a beautiful, colourful space by choosing plants that will thrive rather than sulk in the shade!

Deciduous and Evergreen

A good tip is to look not just for evergreen plants, but deciduous ones too. Because new leaves unfurling at different times of the year provide extended interest.

Ferns are another great choice for shady gardens. Plus, there are lots of different varieties for damp and dry soil, deciduous and evergreen.

Deciduous shrubs such as hydrangeas, deutzia, and euonymus all grow well in shade. And the leaves of deciduous euonymus cultivars, such as Alatus compactus, turn deep, fiery shades of red during the autumn months. This completely floods your shaded area with a fiery light until the leaves fall in early winter.

Euonymus alatus compactus (Winged Spindle)

This compact large shrub/small tree should be planted in partial shade, where the sun catching its spectacular autumn foliage can best be appreciated.

Euonymus Alatus (Compactus) in a North-Facing garden
  • Flowers from June to July
  • Hardy
  • Grows to 150cm tall and 150cm wide
  • Moist, well-drained soil
  • Dappled shade
  • Sheltered

Top Tip: 

Evergreen plants with shiny or glossy leaves can make a dark space feel brighter.

Choosing a selection of shade-loving evergreen plants with a mix of different heights, sizes, and leaves, such as fatsia, skimmia, and epimedium will turn the space into an exciting area.

Laurel has large shiny rounded leaves. As do camellias, which have the added bonus of spring flowers. But do check your soil pH first, as camellias prefer acidic soil.

Variegation

The leaves of some shade-loving plants have white or cream markings on their leaves, such as pittosporum, hostas and euonymus. Choosing a selection of these will help to lighten the overall feel of the garden.

There are a wide range of different leaf colours of pittosporum that grow well in part shade, as well as full sun.  Although their flowers are tiny, they give off a delightful honey scent and make a great choice for north-facing gardens. The best cultivars for shade are those with either silvery white or yellow leaf markings, such as ‘Silver Queen’ and ‘Abbotsbury Gold’. Both of these are quick growing and reach great heights. So, it’s worth noting these may not be as suitable for smaller gardens.

Pittosporum ‘Irene Paterson’ (tawhiwhi)

If you’re looking for a slower-grow, smaller Pittosporum that form a neat bell shape then ‘Irene Paterson’ could be an ideal choice. With its pronounced white leaf markings often changing to pink during the winter months, this makes a great additions to darker gardens.

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  • Flowers from June to July
  • Hardy
  • Grows to 150cm tall and 150cm wide
  • Moist, well-drained soil
  • Dappled shade
  • Sheltered

Top Tip:

Choose either all-white or all-cream variegated plants as the two colours don’t tend to blend well together.

Alternatively, group all white variegated plants in one area and cream ones in another part of the garden. Separate them with a selection of darker green shade-loving evergreen plants such as Viburnum davidii or Euonymus ‘Green Spire’.

Dry Shade

The soil in many north-facing gardens tends to be quite dry. Especially if the garden has nearby mature trees or is surrounded by tall fences or buildings.

If so, make sure you choose plants where the label says they are suitable for dry shade. Moisture-loving shade plants will seldom grow well in that situation.

Top Tip:

Buy smaller pots of plants, as they will be less stressed by the lack of water around their roots when they establish.

Plus they will often grow quicker than larger specimens, with the added bonus of being much cheaper to buy!

Ground Cover

There are several plants that will grow well in this situation.  Vinca, commonly known as periwinkle, will soon carpet bare soil.  There are cultivars with white, blue, and mauve colour flowers, all evergreen.  Vinca major produce fairly large leaves on stems that tend to rise up and curl over. Whereas Vinca minor produce smaller leaves on stems that tend to hug the ground and will cascade down a shady bank.

There are also some ground cover plants with shiny leaves such as ajuga and asarum.

Asarum europaeum (Wild ginger)

This plant has exotic-looking rounded leaves which will spread across the soil once established. Plus, it has the added bonus of handsome, short, purple-red flowers which appear in the spring amongst the leaves.

Asarum europaeum (wild ginger)
  • Flowers from March to April
  • Hardy
  • Grows to 15cm tall and 30cm wide
  • Fertile, humus-rich soils which do not dry out in the summer
  • Full to dappled shade
  • Exposed

Dry shade is one of the hardest types to find plants for. But, there are a couple of evergreen ground cover plants that relish those conditions. Namely ajuga and pachysandra, both undemanding and easy to grow.

Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese spurge)

An easy-to-grow, low-growing, evergreen plant which produces rosettes of glossy, dark green leaves with serrated edges and upright clusters of tiny, white flowers in early summer. These contrast beautifully with the dark green foliage. Japanese spurge is perfect for carpeting bare areas of earth between deciduous shrubs or trees.  It will grow in full sun as well as shade, but the leaves have a tendency to develop a palish yellow hue in sunny locations.

Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese surge)
  • Flowers May to June
  • Hardy
  • Grows to 20cm tall and 100cm wide
  • Tolerates most soil types
  • Full sun to full shade
  • Exposed

Flowers

There are a surprisingly wide variety of flowering plants that grow well in a north-facing aspect.

Snowdrops and aconites are easy-to-grow spring flowering bulbs that will self-seed gaily around the garden. Then followed by hellebores in shades of white, yellow and pink.

Helleborus x hybridus ‘Pretty Ellen Red’ (Hellebore)

The flowers on this beautiful cultivar are a deep burgundy red. And they are shown to best effect if the older, larger leaves are removed at base level in January.  The plants respond well if a deep layer of mulch, such as leaf mould, is applied around them in the autumn.

Helleborus x hybridus (Pretty Ellen Red)
  • Flowers from February to April
  • Hardy
  • Grows to 150cm tall and 150cm wide
  • Moist free-draining, fertile soil
  • Dappled shade
  • Exposed

Hydrangea aborescens ‘Pink Annabelle’ (Hydrangea)

Hydrangeas flower exceptionally well in partial shade if the soil is reliably moist. The good news is, there is a large range of hydrangea flower types and colours to choose from.

The giant flower heads on the pink form of this popular cultivar are certain to be much admired.  Adding the white form will be sure to lighten the border and both will flower over many weeks.

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  • Flowers from July to September
  • Hardy
  • Grows to 150cm tall and 150cm wide
  • Moist free-draining, fertile soil
  • Dappled shade
  • Exposed

Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’ (Beauty Berry)

Plant this shrub close to the path edge to fully appreciate the beauty of its almost luminescent violet-purple berries.

Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii 'Profusion' (Beauty Berry)
  • Berries appear from September to December
  • Hardy
  • Grows to 300cm tall and 250cm wide
  • Moist free-draining, fertile soil
  • Dappled shade
  • Exposed

Other tough plants that will happily code with a north-facing aspect are Alchemilla mollis, Acanthus mollis, hardy geraniums, astilbe and Astrantia. And all of these produce flowers during the summer months.

Come autumn it’s still possible to have colour.  Japanese anemones will flower for weeks and, for a touch of the unusual, the beauty berry produces bright violet rounded berries!

A north-facing garden doesn’t have to limit your planting options for your outdoor space. There are so many wonderful plants that you can use to brighten up any space, despite the lack of sunlight.

Find out more about plants for any aspect:

Houseplants for your home office.

Or check out my Pinterest board for more ideas: