How much sun do you get in a north facing garden?

Question

I'm thinking of buying a house with a N facing garden, I know it gets less sun, but how much less? The garden is actually to the side of the house so off the thin side of the house if that makes sense (I just thought the wideness of the house wonlt overshadow it)and its not overlooked by any other houses. It veers slightly off a bit to one side but is not that long about 36 x 45 Can anyone give me an idea?

Answer 1

A lot less. But it will depend how far away from the house the garden bed extends, and how high the house is. The higher the house, the farther from the house the shade will extend.

Depending on your latitude, You may get some sun close to the summer solstice, when the sun at "high noon" will be slightly north of "straight up". But it will only last a few weeks.

Don't plan on growing anything that wants full sun. You may have luck with part-sun and shade planting.

If you want to plant a lot of things that want full sun - why not just make some garden beds on the south side of the house?

Answer 2

Now matter what house you buy you are going to have sun and shade areas. Of course it is better to have more sun areas than shade but you should plant flowers and plants according to the amount of sun or shade recommended for the plant. Some plants that do well in the shade are host-as. If you are thinking of buying this home and are worried about to much shade you might want to move the garden where this is more sun. It's your house right :)

Answer 3

There are hundreds of plants that will grow in a north facing garden so don't let that deter you. Problems arise with moss growing in grass, not being able to get washing dry and algae on fences etc.

Most places get sun for some of the day - take a look early morning, noon and evening. It should give you a good idea. Remember in summer though you will get more sun than in winter.

Answer 4

I have garden right round my house, no problems at all (shade & very sunny areas).

As someone mentioned all gardens have areas of shade and sun and you just pick suitable plants for the area.

On the shadey side of my house I grow the delicate things I would not normally grow in my hot dry area. eg. violets, pulmonaria, heuchra, NZ Flax, Lamium, Hardy Ferns, Camelias, English Box (the most suitable for shadey areas).

With a spot of morning sun you can grow, Euonymus, Acer palmatum, brunnera, mondo grass, hydrangeas, woodland bulbs, bergennia, Japanese windflowers. If you are in one of the cooler areas of the USA there are also a multitude of 'woodland' plants you can grow including hosta.

If you love the house, buy it and get some good gardening books on Woodland gardens, with good advice you won't be missing
anything. Keep your sunloving plants for round the back.

Answer 5

very little

Answer 6

Not much.