How about some roses, or some hostas like plantaginea or guacamole. You could grow climbers like mandevilla laxa or some jasmines. The conditions don't sound too bad for anything except those plants which demand high levels of light throughout the day to flower, but maybe you'd be better off with hostas or roses.

Dappled shade would be perfect for hostas, like RP sez, but I think you'd have problems with most roses -- all you rose nuts out there, chime in if I'm wrong -- and most jasmines and mandies need more than a few hours direct sun to be really happy.

For natives, try lily of the valley, it's a fast spreader when happy, but you can always pull 'em up and bring 'em inside; some native phlox (divericata) are fragrant, wintergreen would be a great groundcover there.

For shrubs, sarcococca, tho not native, would do fine, as would abelias and skimmias. Native choices include clethra or itea in the sunniest spot you can find for it on the North side, illicium floridanum (anise shrub) should be hardy in your area and the leaves smell great, and calycanthus has fragrant leaves and flowers.

Finally, it's not native and few are fragrant, but why not a camellia to color things up?

Look also at Plant Delights, and Asiatica for more shade perennial choices, and let us know how things smell come summer!

Jim

I'd definitely say a clethra above abelias or skimmias, they have very little scent comparatively.

I used to have a similar area, and Jim has already named almost everything that did well there. Also had luck with "meadow phlox" (a taller one), monarda and sweet woodruff (scented foliage), a scented true geranium called 'Karmina,' and daphne. Also, sweet autumn clematis did surprisingly well. Some of those might spread gently, but none so much as the peppermint and lemon balm you mentioned! A word of caution--don't think those won't spread just because they don't get much sun; I learned the hard way to keep those in containers with the l.b. nowhere near soil where the seeds could blow. Also on the *not* list--Missouri primrose.

Kept a stephanotis floribunda in a container near the house (goes in over winter), and it grew and bloomed well. Every garden has little pockets that get more sun than others, so I'd keep experimenting if I were you and let us know as Jim suggested!

the hostas would be a sure safe bet for scent in the shade.
a pot of tuberrose could be brought into the shade just as it flowers. early in the season, some pansys might help you out. You might try an autumn clematis on top of the fence.
lilies might do it for you too. also hyperion daylily has a
nice scent and would do ok in the area you discribed.

diggerb

Some of the native azaleas are highly fragrant, and do not require much sun. You might try R. atlanticum or R. arboriscens. The male Skimmia japonica is wonderfully fragrant, not so much for the female. But she can produce beautiful red berries which will last all winter. So if you had one of each you would have fragrance and fruit. Mandivilla laxa is not harty north of zone eight.

Do Daphnes do well there? D. odora does well for me on the north side of my house with really good drainage. D. caucasius Summer Icicle has been getting bigger every year and keeps blooming through the summer and fall.