North facing patio

Our lounge faces north, lovely view of the pond, but only gets a little sun early and late, and patio gets a bit green (Indian sandstone). We had wondered whether to have a conservatory, wondered if it would make the room darker still. Would be a lovely view, and I understand it;s best NOT to have too much sun in a conservatory.

I've always called them geraniums, the ones with big red flowers that I have in the hot conservatory on the front! I stand corrected_ we learn something new every day don't we?

Regarding geraniums.

Most people wrongly call Zonal pelargoniums, geraniums, these do need sun.

What you need for shady situations are perennial geraniums, these are totally different from pelargoniums. We have perennial geraniums flourishing in deep dry shade under our trees. They come back year on year.

Here is a link to the Algon web site. The product is available from many garden centers (other similar products are available, but this is the one I have used)
algonorganics.co.uk/

Some roses also do well in a North facing garden. The RHS or David Austin sites will name them.

Our new garden is North facing and when we bought, in the Winter/ Spring I was worried as the old garden was SW facing. Luckily the house is a cottage and the garden not overshadowed, so all but the face of the house gets some sun throughout the day.

On the North facing wall I have planted a Golden Showers climber in a large planter, which the RHS recommend. It seems to be fine. Google flowers for N facing gardens, there should be lots of choice. Happy gardening.

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We have a shady north facing side to our garden. We have gravel down, a sort of yellowish color. My DH is the gardener and has pots of lilies in a variety of colours. Begonias are good in the shade too.

It will be beautiful (i hope you don't think geraniums are the same as pelargoniums, which do need sun).

Some lovely ideas here, many thanks. I had never heard of Argon, so now I will check that out. I also like the idea of thyme between the flagstones, as there are lots of gaps and I was wondering what to do about that. Geraniums also a good idea to add some colour as I thought geraniums needed lots of sun, so I can do that too. I have bird feeders out there, and nesting box- we had a family of great tits earlier this year. It's a sheltered quiet spot
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Appreciated.

Maybe try working with it. Thyme between paving, hosta, ivy (if clipped) astilbe etc. Shade can be lovely and I use a lot of geraniums in my North facing front garden. I used to love lots of colour, but North facing does offer some tranquility I find.

Bare feet? Luckily I never walk around the garden with bare feet, but if you do, then yes, take that into consideration.?However, cleaning the patio with a pressure washer or argon is something you would have to do every year.

Gravel isn't too good for walking on with bare feet. I'd go with the argon.

What about replacing with pretty gravel or chippings?Put a membrane down first, so that weeds won't come through.We have a hydrangea petiolaris ( climbing hydrangea) on a brick wall on our north facing patio, which does really well, in fact it prefers a north facing condition anyway.

Try Algon, it clears moss and mould and lasts for the year, we use it each spring. You just brush it on with a broom.