Oh there are lots of things you could plant. I know because I have no shade at all even on my north facing front of the house :-) and plants sitting around getting sunburnt.

Mona lavender has a pretty purple flower and green/purple foliage. And speaking of foliage.... caladiums (they will die back in winter but return in spring).
For your arbor I'd suggest a passionflower. You will attract zebra longwing butterflies that like that plant in the shade.

Begonias like the shade too and there are lots of kinds although you might have to go to plant sales to find special ones.

Hi Langley! Nice to see you posting!

Kate

I hadn't considered passionflower, but the newer varieties are easier to control, and might just fill the bill for the arbor.. thanks for that suggestion!

Kate, I am so looking forward to reconnecting with ya'll!

Namaste!
Langley

Hi, I have a two story house with a narrow north yard that is one of my favorite areas to garden in. I've attached a picture below. I second the suggestions for caladiums and begonias. Also firespike will bloom in shade and can take the few hours of sun in the summer. I've been very successful with gingers, ferns, philodendrens. For color the tri-color stomanthe is pretty. And certainly ti plants and bromeliads. I also grow my fruit trees over there, strangely enough. I have avocado, mango and lychee that are all doing well and fruiting prolifically. I have brugmansia and brazilian plume also. For vines I have petrea (Queen's wreath) and rangoon creeper, but I think the rangoon creeper would like more sun - it hardly ever blooms. The star of the garden is a large tree fern, but I'm not sure if it would be too cold for that in Orlando. I have bananas that make nice filler, but haven't fruited, probably not enough sun. There are many shade loving palms - I have licuala and metallica palms. Oh, don't forget calatheas. And last but not least, tons of house plant-type things that I can't remember any of the names of, like cast iron plant, pepperomia, etc. Oh, and cannas and alocasias (elephant ears, etc).

Hope this gives you lots of ideas to get started. I love the north side because it's always the coolest to work in, needs the least watering and everything grows like mad. These pictures were taken early this spring and now everything has grown so much I can barely get down the path.

Wow, jenfm, that looks sooooo inviting! And yes, Australian tree fern WILL grow up here.. I had one as tall as the roofline at the house I just left. So tree fern will DEFINITELY have a place somewhere in the landscape. Ohhhh, you have provided PLENTY of ideas! Thanks!

Namaste!
Langley

This is our north facing and almost totally enclosed small courtyard with 2 story walls on all sides. I am a complete rookie when it comes to gardening in Florida. This courtyard is my first attempt (began planting in May 2008). I don't know how some of these plants will fare during the winter months when most of the courtyard will be sunless. Good luck with your north facing beds, wildworldwoman. There do seem to be plenty of options for planting in shade and boy, do those plants grow!

{{gwi:935994}}

That's a lovely courtyard. The palms are beautiful and I love the furniture, and what looks like a gorgeous low stone wall.

sis3, your courtyard looks lovely... I tried to make the picture bigger because I wanted to be IN the picture. (-:

I suppose, like anything else in gardening, there will be some mistakes made with our new yard, but it does appear that there are plenty of choices out there for the north side of the house. Not only that, we certainly could put some large pots of flowers out front in the summer months, and swap out the pots with shade lovers during the winter.

Thank you all!