Ideas for a bottom of the garden patio which is North EE facing please?
By Deesong
United Kingdom 
We have a 30 foot wide by 25 foot elevated bottom of the garden patio which is simply not being used at the moment. The garden behind ours has large conifers so this part is shaded from sun and rain. It does have some sun on the south facing side some of the time. Ideas of what to do with it please. It also has an old pond which is in disrepair and it is walled all the way around apart from the steps leading to the lower garden.
3 Oct, 2009
Answers
We have large conifers (planted in neighbours garden) on the south side of our garden, also at the bottom. We grow Pyracantha, Eucalyptus (coppiced), Azalea, Amelanchier, Mahonia, Aucuba, Fatsia, Alchemilla and Hellebores and ferns. Also, Fuchsia and ivies. In Spring there is Solomon's Seal, Dicentras,Astilbes.
Sightly further away are Phormium and various grasses.
Try to plant lots of different coloured foliage plants as flowers can be reluctant to appear.Be sure to enrich the soil for anythng that you plant as the conifers will take out a lot of goodness from the soil.
3 Oct, 2009
If you dont want to repair and refill the pond you could always turn it into a bog graden?
3 Oct, 2009
Sounds like the area's pretty dry, if, as you say, it doesn't get much rain because of the conifers. Not much will grow in dry shade, but there are some things - how dry is it? What's growing in it now?
3 Oct, 2009
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