If you believe that the plants for north facing balcony garden are boring and less colorful because of shade, then this is wrong.
Although the choice of plants is limited, but to make such spaces beautiful you can compensate this deficiency with ornamental plants and some flowers that prefer shade.
North facing balcony remains clear and without blockage, because of the diffused light, which illuminates it. But it doesn’t receive direct sun, no more than two hours, such a space is really shady and there you can grow plants with high tolerance to shade.
Flowers
Only few flowers will do well on north facing balcony garden. In annuals, you can grow all begonias, impatiens, fuchsia, larkspur and Torenia (wishbone flower). In perennials, you can plant periwinkle, lily of the valley, jacob’s ladder, Violets (viola), forget me not and Plumbago (for tropics). Bleeding heart can be a good bet too.
Ornamental plants
You can grow ornamental foliage plants for north facing balcony that love shade and you’ll be surprised how beautiful these look. Plant caladium and coleus, both are famous for their fancy foliage, especially coleus that comes in variety of colors. Some indoor plants and ferns are good choice for shady balcony too, these will complement with plants like coleus and caladium and also covers the exposed space of your balcony for privacy. Other plant you can grow are ivy and hosta, hostas are popularly grown for their lush and patterned foliage, you can easily plant them in containers.
Sadly majority of herbs loves sun and faces difficulty in growing in north facing balcony, still you can grow herbs like mint there. You can try to grow parsley and oregano. Some exotic herbs can be tried too, fenugreek and carom will probably survive.
Does Algae still grow with plants for shaded balcony?