Making the Most of a North-Facing Garden

A North-Facing Garden Deserves Better Press

Ask most British gardeners what they want and they will say "a sunny spot". Yet some of the loveliest gardens I have ever stood in have been cool, green and north-facing, with light that arrives softly and lingers all day rather than blazing in for a few hours and vanishing. A north-facing plot does not dry out in a week of July heat, it does not scorch leaves against a wall, and it holds on to the sort of gentle humidity that ferns, hostas and mosses adore.

What it does demand is a change of attitude. Stop trying to grow lavender, rosemary and sun-loving grasses against a north wall and start designing for the conditions you actually have. Do that, and a difficult corner becomes the most restful, most atmospheric part of the garden.

Read the Light Before You Plant

"North-facing" is not one single thing. A border running along a north wall may receive several hours of early morning or late evening sun in midsummer, when the sun rises and sets far enough round to reach in sideways. A patch at the far end of the garden, away from buildings, behaves differently again — open to the sky, though never to direct sun.

Spend a day in the garden before you buy anything, noting where light falls and how long it stays. Then look at the soil:

• Damp and heavy: north-facing ground often stays moist, and on clay it can be genuinely waterlogged in winter. Fork in plenty of garden compost or leaf mould and consider raising the bed slightly.
• Dry shade: the opposite problem, usually under trees or against a wall with an overhang. Here you need tough plants and a watering can for the first two summers.
• Tree roots: rather than digging, plant in generous pockets of improved soil and mulch well, then let the plants find their own way.

The Backbone: Ferns, Hostas, Hellebores and Moss

These four groups will carry a shady garden through the whole year, and they look superb together because their textures are so different.

• Ferns are the great shade plants. Hart's tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium) gives you bold, evergreen straps of green; soft shield fern (Polystichum setiferum) is lacy and forgiving; Dryopteris erythrosora unfurls coppery new fronds that glow for weeks. Plant them in drifts rather than singly so the fronds knit into a haze.
• Hostas bring the foliage drama, from the huge, ribbed leaves of 'Sum and Substance' to the crisp white-edged 'Patriot'. They need moisture and protection from slugs — nematodes in spring, wool pellets around the crowns, and a mulch of leaf mould all help.
• Hellebores earn their place in winter, flowering from January when little else dares. Helleborus niger and the orientalis hybrids will seed about gently if you leave the flowers to ripen.
• Moss is not a weed in a north-facing garden, it is a design tool. Encourage it between paving, on stone steps and around the base of pots by keeping the surface damp and brushing away fallen leaves in autumn. A mossy path winding into green shade feels wonderfully established.

Pale Flowers and Variegated Leaves to Lift the Gloom

In low light, colour behaves differently. Deep reds, purples and dark blues recede and can look almost black; whites, creams, soft yellows and pale blues seem to gather what light there is and shine with it. This is why a single white foxglove standing in a shady border can be seen from the kitchen window.

Lean towards pale-flowered forms: white and cream hellebores, Anemone nemorosa, white Astilbe, Thalictrum with its froth of tiny cream flowers, pale yellow Primula, and the cool blues of Brunnera and Pulmonaria. Repeat them through the border rather than dotting them about, so the eye follows a soft trail of light.

Variegated foliage does the same job in leaf. Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' has silvered hearts, Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' is a golden ribbon of a grass, and variegated ivies and Euonymus fortunei will light up a dark wall. Use them sparingly — too many and the planting looks fidgety.

Structure, Containers and Bright Surfaces

Shade flattens a garden, so anything that introduces shape, height or reflection is worth its weight in gold. A dark fence painted in a soft grey-green or warm cream will bounce light back into the border far better than brown timber. Pale gravel, sandstone or light concrete paving does the same underfoot.

Add a little height where you can: a specimen Fatsia japonica, a clipped box or yew ball in a pot, a slender tree such as Amelanchier. Raised planters and a shelf of pots bring small plants closer to eye level and to whatever light there is. A shallow water bowl will mirror the sky, and a well-placed mirror on a shady wall can double the apparent depth of the garden.

Make It a Place to Sit at Dusk

North-facing gardens come into their own in the evening, and outdoor lighting should flatter rather than flood. Warm white uplighters tucked beneath ferns or a multi-stemmed shrub will throw shadows onto a wall and give the planting a theatrical depth. Lanterns on a table, a candle in a storm glass, a string of warm bulbs along a pergola — all of these suit the mood.

Finally, give yourself a reason to walk down there. A bench at the shaded end, a path that curves out of sight, a chair beside a pot of scented Sarcococca that perfumes the air in February. Treat the cool end of the garden as a destination rather than a leftover, and it will quickly become the place you retreat to with a cup of tea and no particular plan to do anything at all.