What to plant in this north facing planter?

I have a rather large ugly north facing planter in my front garden (UK) that I need to plant up - it's raised (about 140cm high), walled and about 1m wide and 3m long. I need to plant some evergreen shrubs that will give a very low maintenance ground cover and would like some suggestions please. It's hard to access to maintain and a real weed magnet so I'm looking for shrubby evergreen plants that will grow wide but not too high and give some ground cover. I like things like Hebe but I know this won't thrive here - the planter gets some sun late in the day but nothing much the rest of the day and is shaded by taller trees on my neighbours side of the planter.

I'd quite like a little overspill to cover the top of the wall, but nothing trailing as this will make it hard to get in and out of the car.

The wall is being rendered soon so will look a little nicer then at least!

 

I just had a look at your pic, but could not see a planter. Do you mean the bricked raised bed/bank? It could look really wonderful with spring bulbs, other plants and shrubs. What is the soil like? Is it quite dry and free draining?

 

Yes, I mean the raised brick bed. The soil drains well and seems to be quite dry. Beyond that I'm not really sure - its been pretty abandoned for a long time I think and basically if just full of weeds.

I'd prefer no bulbs, I don't want anything that needs attention at all as its really hard to get in there to do anything like tying back at the end of the spring. It;s also really high from the ground, so it needs strong structural plants - you probably wouldn't be able to see anything small like bulbs anyway.

 

Sounds like you need something low and creeping for ground cover, plus one or two taller shrubs for interest. Gaultheria is often recommended for ground cover in shade, I'm considering it for the most awkward parts of my own garden. It's a creeping evergreen with red berries. One of the low cotoneasters could do a similar job.
Then for a shrub, how about Mahonia? Very structural, new growth is often a beautiful red, then you get the yellow flowers in winter and blue berries in spring. Happy in shade too and doesn't need any attention.

Some hellebores just by the edge could be nice, as the flowers naturally face downwards so you would get the full benefit from below. A lot of people cut back all the hellebore leaves each year so they can see the flowers better, but I don't bother, I like the foliage too much. They should hopefully self-seed and spread too.

 

I was looking at Cotoneaster "Queen of Carpets" recently, but the O/P s spot sounds too dry.

In that case I'd remove everything from it, take the soil out down to about 6 - 12 inches, add 4 to 8 inches of hard core and top with gravel or slate chippings. Hard work initially, but then done.

 

Vinca minor for ground cover. It comes in plain green or variegated leaf forms, several colours of flower..white, blue, purple... some double-flowered. Bomb proof. If you're into yellow foliage, there are several variegated Euonymous and Choisya ternata 'Sundance' or 'Goldfinger' which all do OK in some shade.
You probably don't want to read this, but the more soil prep you can do beforehand the better your new plants will do. That bank will quite possibly be riddled with tree and shrub roots and very dry, exhausted soil. The more compost and soil improver you can add, the better!
Personally, for ultimate low maintenance, I'd clear it, improve the soil and pin weed suppressing membrane down, then plant through holes in that. Not to everyone's taste (although the membrane does come in brown nowadays) but saves hours of weeding and helps retain moisture.

 

Pittosporum might work well. Some are more compact than others so a bit of research might be needed.

 

Euonymus fortunei is a good ground cover for dry, shade
Geranium macrorrhizums are also good for dry, shade and semi evergreen. Lovely sherbet scent as well if you brush against the foliage

 

I'd put two or three small variegated Phormiums in that space, like Phormium Cream Delight or a medium sized one like P. Tricolor. The size will be limited by the soil depth in your bed. They are evergreen, have a good architectural habit and don't need much attention apart from watering to get established. They prefer sun but I have several in a shady border close to a huge laurel hedge and trees where they are quite happy. Try to improve your soil with some organic matter before planting. Then cover the bed with a bark mulch. There's an RHS list of Phormiums by size here which might help: by-size

 

If you want some small filler plants to add, you could consider some ferns. Dryopteris and Polystichum do well in dry north-facing areas. Epimediums are good too, with spring flowers usually, depending on the variety.

 

If you don’t want to maintain it then why not just throw a load of shade wildflower seed and let it do it’s own thing.