Hello from County Durham

Thank you so much for your suggestions. It is so interesting as you too are referring to plants which my Dad always liked and referred a lot to! It is so lovely you have taken the time to explain these to me too - thank you, and i will let you know how I get on.

 

If you do not like cats (I have one) and foxes etc buy one of these pump action ( no not shotguns) high powered hand held water guns or the garden hose. Grand children have fun with both. Foxes came into my garden during the day but no longer they moved next door and messed up their front and back garden while my cat keeps others away.

 

Cotoneaster

 

This is Joannecw's thread @waterbut so I won't be continuing this discussion here.

 

I'm surprised that people have the time to sit all day and night with a water pistol....

I had another thought yesterday re plants for your site @joannecw , although I think the cotoneaster is a perfect solution, with additional ground cover etc. You could try something like one of the columnar yews. There's good golden varieties which might be useful, and they can be trimmed when needed. That would allow other planting of a different type too.
I think the cotoneaster I have, which is freestanding and evergreen, is C. franchetii but C.lacteus is a similar type. I don't find the birds eat the berries very often either, so it's very useful for colour at this time of year. The wood pigeons occasionally enjoy some acrobatic nibbling though!
I have it running along a boundary fence, about fifteen feet or so, but there's a house not too far away which has a similar one against a wall, next to an entrance to their back garden, and it's pruned and kept quite sculptural. It's beautiful, but I wouldn't be able to get a photo unfortunately, and I never see the owners to ask them about it, which is a pity as I admire it every time I go past.

 

I had a damp, north facing border in my last garden and it was glorious - hostas, ligularias, candelabra primulas, hakonechloa grass, Japanese anemones, astilbes, dicentra spectabilis, lily of the valley and spring daffs.

 

Hello and welcome to GC @joannecw

 

Yes - I grow most of those in similar sites @Obelix-Vendée, although the Ligularias like some sun so I'd be concerned about them leaning a lot. Mind you, it's the slugs that are a bigger problem for those than anything - same with hostas.
There are loads of perennials which are happy in that sort of site.

 

Great many thanks @fairygirl - I think I will give this a go for sure. There's a lot of wood pigeons locally here so I am sure they may take a liking to it!

 

Thank you @Obelix-Vendée - there is a hosta there currently although it's not faring well at the moment - also lily of the valley, so I will look your other suggestions up too.

 

It'll be a bit of trial and error, and because the site is very narrow, and there's the ivy to consider, as it could simply take over, you may find some plants will do better than others.
The condition of the soil before planting anything is always worth addressing. If there's a reason it's always moist, even through summer, it may not just be from the weather, and that can affect what you put in

Ears must have been burning!