North Facing New Build Help

Hi all, I’m looking for some advice on our new build front garden. I replaced the turf on this section in front of my house and it looked wonderful all of last year and this is the state of it after the winter.
The front of our house faces north so the areas under the windows only gets a couple of hours of sun a day (and probably less than that in winter).
I was considering planting shrub roses along the front here where the grass is struggling but I’m worried that they won’t stay healthy with so little sun. Does anyone have any advice on plants that would do well here? We have clay soil. I love the English country garden style of planting but I think at the front of the house I’d want to go fairly low maintenance. I don’t mind if they grow up and obscure the bottom of the windows. Thanks in advance - any advice for making the front of the house look less rubbish would be appreciated! Open to any ideas!

 

There’s part of my lawn that looks like that at the moment but it will recover as soon as the soil dries out and we get some heat. I think yours will too as it looks quite bright at the front of your house. Roses won’t do very well there as they really need full sun to flower well. The evergreen hedging and potted domes that you have suit the elegant style of your home. If you want some colour, typical cottage garden plants need sun but plants that will enjoy that north facing position include Hydrangea paniculata, try the variety Limelight, ferns, foxgloves and even Nepetas which are sun loving but will grow there. I would repeat your planting to create a sense of rhythm rather than a mix of many plants, but that is just personal preference. One thought though, you’ll need access to your windows to clean them .

 

The grass will probably bounce back once it dries out a bit, north facing lawns just take longer to recover after winter. If you do want to plant that strip though, hydrangeas are worth a look, they actually prefer not being in full sun and you'd get flowers from summer right through autumn. Heuchera are good for filling gaps too, loads of colour without needing much light.

 

Since you have already a conifer type border (one of them looks dead btw), I would more concentrate on replacing them now before they get established. They probably will grow higher but are harder to maintain depending on the height and have a tendency to look not very nice when pruned. If the purpose is to give protection from passing pedestrians, then it's darker between the hedge and the house.
Looking at the style of house, I would replace them with box-type replacements like Yew. I saw 6 plugs in a pack for £10 recently at a good garden centre nearby.
I also like Hydrangeas.
Please check where currently the sun rises, where it is at noon time and where it sets.
We are at a Altitude of 35° currently and it will be around 62° in June, which means the front bed will enjoy shade over noon time on hot days before the sun sets in after 3 o'clock on the SW side and will set on the NW side.
If the sun rises currently on the E, it will rise in summer on the NE side and give the front garden between two and three hours of sunshine.
Looking at the images I can't see why you shouldn't have 2 or 3 hours sunshine in the morning and around 5 hours in the afternoon/evening.