Fruit Trees for a North-Facing Garden – Growing in the Cool Shade

Not every garden basks in day-long sunshine with many gardens facing north, experiencing cooler temperatures and less direct light. It can feel limiting, but shade doesn’t mean impossible, and it certainly doesn’t have to mean never growing fruit trees. In fact, certain varieties positively thrive in these conditions, offering blossom in spring and rewarding harvests later in the year. With the right choices, a north-facing garden can be just as productive as a sun-soaked space. So, move over south-facing gardens, here is the Frank P Matthews guide to growing fruit trees in a north-facing garden.

The Challenge of Shade

Fruit trees, like all plants, rely on sunlight to ripen their crops. But while warmth helps sweeten fruit, many traditional varieties were bred in Britain’s unpredictable climate and are well adapted to cooler, shadier conditions. The key is to choose early and mid-season varieties that ripen reliably without needing long stretches of hot weather and here are those varieties.

Apple Trees

Apples are the backbone of the British orchard, and they’re among the most forgiving fruit trees for shaded gardens. Heritage and modern varieties will both perform well in shadier environments which presents a huge range of varieties to choose from but here are our top 3.

Discovery – Crisp, juicy and one of the earliest to ripen (Early August), making it a perfect choice for your garden. 

Egremont Russet – With its nutty, aromatic flavour, this variety proves you don’t need full sun to enjoy complexity in your fruit.

Rosette ™ – Rosette™ is a new early dessert apple. A lovely bright red apple with an unusual pink speckled ‘rosette’ pattern that penetrates deep into the flesh. The best flavoured pink fleshed apple available, light and sweet flavour with a hint of summer berries.  Rosette™ is delicious eaten fresh and produces an attractive tasty apple juice. The tree is compact in habit which makes it ideal for the smallest of gardens. Very heavy cropping and is also easy to grow.

Pear Trees

Pears love a bit of shelter and north-facing walls can actually help to protect their delicate spring blossom from frost. There are two front runners if you want to add a pear tree to your garden and they are.

Conference – The UK’s most reliable pear, cropping even in cooler summers.

Beth – Compact and early-ripening, producing dessert pears that are sweet and tender straight from the tree. Perfect for planting in large pots too so perfect for those smaller north-facing gardens or even adding to a front garden.

Plum and Damson Trees

These stone fruits are surprisingly tolerant of less sun and often produce abundant harvests even in shadier spots.

Plum Victoria – A classic British plum, self-fertile and generous with its fruit.

Plum Opal – Ripens early and produces sweet, richly flavoured fruit perfect for eating fresh.

Damson Shropshire Prune – Hardy, reliable, and ideal for preserves, gin, and traditional baking.

Cherry Trees

While sweet cherries prefer sun, sour cherries actually do better in shade. So, if sour cherries suit your tastes, then growing Morello cherry is perfect, thriving in partial shade and producing glossy, dark red fruit ideal for pies and jams.

Quince and Medlar trees

We’ve mentioned the usual fruit tree suspects but what if you want to try something a little different?! Quinces and medlars are hardy, resilient and well-suited to cooler gardens, so fit this category perfectly.

Medlar Nottingham – A forgotten favourite, producing unusual russet-brown fruits with a spiced flavour once softened. They’ll perform well in both full sun and partial shade. 

Quince Meeches Prolific – Fragrant golden fruit, wonderful for jellies and poached desserts. Self-fertile so only one tree required, perfect if you have limited space.

Tips for Success in a North-Facing Garden

It’s always best to try and choose varieties that can be picked earlier in their season, this gives them time to ripen before the light fades, and the warmth of the summer disappears.

Training trees as cordons or fans against a wall can help them soak up reflected light and warmth, helping them to ripen well in a north-facing garden.

It’s also good to think about the rootstock your fruit tree is on, now this sounds more technical than it is (and our team are always on hand to advise) but hardy rootstocks such as MM106 for apples give trees more vigour in challenging conditions.

Then play to your strengths, the fruit trees mentioned above and many more are either bred, naturally suited or can cope with partial shade and in some cases outperform their sunny counterparts. It is always good to do your research before choosing a tree. 

A north-facing garden doesn’t have to be frustrating, and you can most definitely enjoy a garden that bursts with blossom in spring and fills baskets with apples, plums, pears, and more in autumn. And as you won’t find many of these varieties readily available in a supermarket, each harvest will taste like something truly special.