KLC, have you considered any of the following: Aucuba japonica, Fatsia japonica, Vaccinium ovatum (Red huckleberry), Osmanthus heterophyllus or Leucothoe? All those do well in shade. I have an Acer palmatum 'Villa Taranto' in a pot in full shade which does really well.
Another thought: if you put your maple in a pot and place it there, you'd quickly find out if its happy there or not. Then you could plant it there or move it to a sunnier spot if necessary. Good luck!

My initial thought when I saw your pics was an espaliered camelia. If done like the one they have by the front entrance at Wells-Medina, it would be stunning in that space.

If there's enough light for the junipers etc., there's enough light for the maple.

Note: "Jap" is a pejorative.

So sorry on using "Jap"....will be more careful in the future, surely didn't mean to offend anyone.

Thank you for all the ideas/thoughts. I will look into the options given.

RE: the junipers, since you brought them up...in looking at them this year they are getting very "brown" on the top. I wondered if it was from the winter we had....or from not enough sun. ??

Much hardier than needed for our climate. Center may open up with age to show old dead foliage. Also prone to blight problems on some sites.

Been seeing the J-word quite often lately, usually connected to a plant name and on the computer, and even in print. A handy abbreviation, but not a good habit.

Once again I am sorry. I abbreviated it typing in a hurry not even giving it a thought that anyone would be offended or that I shouldn't abbreviate it...maybe it was stupid but it was an honest mistake...no harm intended.

Plenty of light for a maple.....I wouldn't hesitate to include one, provided it was sized accordingly (that site is pretty darn close to the house). I really like the idea of a dwarf maple grown in a container for that spot and you can easily move it should it outgrow the space. Camellias that lend themselves best to espalier - sasanquas - will bloom much better if they receive a fair amount of sun, however if the rhodies/azaleas are blooming well, and they appear to be, the camellia should also.

klc, I believe in your total innocence. I wasn't offended--I simply paused. Most gardening references to J*p would be done innocently. My comment was in general; I'm a little surprised at the recent frequency of the word, given its history, but then a lot of time has passed.

right now, that area is pretty dominated by shrub balls. i think it would be fun to keep with that theme, and just pile up a few more in there. make the area look sort of pillowy, soft, rounded. subdued.

then in the center, throw a lot of drama in. more drama than a tree (a relatively static plant). throw some large out of control perennials around the pots, so at times in the season you can't even see them.

then in the pots themselves, throw in even more dramatic plants. when that phormium looking plant gets bigger, that should qualify.

so yea, just use the classic tension: rounded, trimmed controlled shrubs and out of control nature.