Plants for a north-facing border

North-facing gets a worse reputation than it deserves. It rules out a long list of plants, but the beds that work there are often the best looking in a garden, because shade planting leans on leaf shape and texture, which last far longer than flowers.

What north-facing means

A north-facing bed is one you look north out of, with the wall or fence behind you. It gets no direct sun from October to March, and a few hours early and late in high summer when the sun swings round far enough to clear the building. There is plenty of light. What is missing is direct sun.

It is cooler and slower to dry, so the soil stays workable in August when a sunny bed has set solid. The wall is the complication. Eaves throw rain clear, so the strip within 50 cm of the brickwork can be bone dry all year while the open part of the same bed sits damp.

What fails there

The plants that fail are the ones sold on full sun and sharp drainage. Lavender and rosemary survive a couple of years, go leggy and bare at the base, then rot at the root. Most roses sulk. Silver-leaved plants are silver because they are built for heat and glare, so in shade they go green and mildewed. None of that is a soil problem, so better soil does not rescue it.

The back of the bed

Evergreens earn their money here, because for five months they are the only thing in the bed with any presence. English Yew (Taxus baccata) reaches 400 cm (4 m) and 300 cm across and takes clipping to any size, so it works as a backdrop rather than a specimen. Cherry Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) at 400 cm by 400 cm fills a big gap fast and then needs cutting back every year.

For something that does more than sit there, Mahonia 'Charity' (Mahonia x media 'Charity') is 250 cm by 250 cm and flowers November to February, exactly when the bed has nothing else. Sweet Box (Sarcococca confusa) is smaller at 150 cm by 100 cm, with dull flowers in January and February that you smell across the garden before you see them. Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price' is 200 cm by 200 cm, flowering December to April.

The middle band

Ferns do the work in the middle, and a good fern is the best thing in the bed. Shuttlecock Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) makes a 100 cm by 100 cm vase of fresh green every spring. Soft Shield Fern (Polystichum setiferum) is evergreen at 90 cm each way and stays presentable all winter if you cut the old fronds off in February.

For flower, Japanese Anemone 'Honorine Jobert' (Anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert') is 120 cm by 90 cm and runs August to October, which covers the end of the season better than anything else that takes a north wall. Bleeding Heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis) at 90 cm by 60 cm flowers April to June and vanishes by midsummer, so put something beside it that expands into the space. Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum x hybridum) is 90 cm by 45 cm, arching, for May and June. Hosta 'Sum and Substance' is 70 cm tall and 150 cm across, and slugs find it.

The front edge and the ground between

Hellebore (Helleborus x hybridus) is the one to plant first, 45 cm each way, evergreen, flowering January to April when nothing else at the front is doing anything. Bergenia 'Purpurea' is 45 cm by 60 cm, evergreen and leathery, flowering February to April.

Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis) at 45 cm by 60 cm flowers June to August and seeds itself about, which is free plants or a weeding job. Japanese Painted Fern (Athyrium niponicum 'Pictum') is 45 cm each way with grey and wine-coloured fronds. Hart's Tongue Fern (Asplenium scolopendrium) is evergreen at 60 cm with plain strap leaves that look best beside the ferny sort. Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra) at 45 cm by 60 cm flops over a path edge.

Bulbs, before the leaves close over

Shade bulbs work because they flower and feed before anything above them has leafed out. Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) at 15 cm covers January and February. Winter Cyclamen (Cyclamen coum) is 10 cm tall and 20 cm across, flowers January to March, and colonises if left alone. Daffodil 'Tete-a-Tete' (Narcissus 'Tete-a-Tete') at 20 cm covers February and March, and Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum 'Gravetye Giant') at 60 cm covers April and May. Plant more than feels sensible, since a dozen snowdrops in a 6 m bed is no display.

Dry shade or damp shade

The two behave nothing alike and the plant lists only half overlap. Dry shade is the foot of a wall, the ground under eaves, and anywhere inside the root run of an established hedge. It is the harder of the two. Mulch every year, water new plants through two summers, and start with plants that expect it. Hardy Geranium, the macrorrhizum sort, (Geranium macrorrhizum) at 30 cm by 60 cm and Red barrenwort (Epimedium x rubrum) at 30 cm by 45 cm both cope, and more are on the dry shade list.

Damp shade is an open north-facing bed away from walls, especially on clay, and it is easier. Shuttlecock Fern and Candelabra primula 'Miller's Crimson' (Primula japonica 'Miller's Crimson') both want that. The wet shade list has the rest, and perennials for shade spans both.

If you cannot tell which you have, fill a 30 cm hole with water twice. If it drains within the hour the shade is dry. If it is still there in the morning it is damp.

Border Builder does this for your own bed: enter its size, aspect and soil and it draws up the plan.