Hi,

I'm buying a house with a north-facing garden. After years saying I would never do that, I've just fallen a love with a house on the "wrong" side of the road...

Is there any hope for it, or am I doomed to a dank, dark garden for ever and ever? It gets little sun because the house is quite tall and it casts a shadow most of the day. There is a wall at the end of the garden that does get some sun, though, and I was thinking of planting climbing roses to grow over it. Can you recommend any shade-loving rose, is there is such a thing?

Any other flowering plants that like the sun and can brighten up the garden?

Roses don't do well without any sun at all. But have a look here (http://gardening.about.com/od/rose1/a/ShadeRoses.htm)

Hardy perennial flowers that do well in part shade to shade include:

Actaea spp. (Bugbane)
Alchemilla mollis (Lady’s Mantle)
Astilbe
Aquilegia (Columbine)
Begonia grandis (Hardy Begonia)
Bergenia (Pigsqueak)
Brunnera (Bugloss)
Dicentra (Bleeding Heart)
Epimedium (Bishop's Hat)
Helleborus (Hellebore)
Hosta
Iris cristata (Crested Iris)
Lamium maculatum (Spotted Deadnettle)
Phlox divaricata (Woodland Phlox)
Primula (Primrose)
Pulmonaria (Leadwort)
Tiarella (Foam Flower)
Tricyrtis (Toad Lily)
Viola (Violet)


Annual flowers that do well in part shade to shade and bloom all summer include:

Impatiens (Busy Lizzies)
Begonia -- including tuberous, angel wing and fibrous rooted begonias
Nicotiana (Flowering Tobacco)
Torenia (Wishbone Flower)
Viola

I always go for a lot of blue flowering plants as a general rule.

If you have a south or east facing wall, you could try clematis as they like there roots in cool soil.