continuing to define the premise ....

what are you hiding.. im nosey.. lol ... also i am presuming you want something 'ever'green ...

i dont know when canada zones changed from usda ... where are you a bit more specifically??? ... i know windsor and surrounds are my z5 ...

all conifers prefer full sun .. you are rather limited ... defining dappled is rather hard .... it wont kill anything.. might just impact vigor ... slower to get to size ... but might grow less at maturity ...less intensive shearing...not to mention the shading trees may grow and make more shade ...

when it boils down ... all i can think of.. is the ubiquitous yews seen all over suburbia .. from the 50s 60s and 70s .... any idea if the yew bug is in your area??? ..

any chance at a pic or 2 ..

ken

Any particular yews you are thinking of? No yew bug here.

Will Emerald Green work for this purpose?

There is unsightly concrete in the ground in the corner. But the main reason I moved the planting away from the back and side fences is so that I can get behind the planting if needed. That corner is completely wild at the moment, and I will be putting something in there next spring to start from in subsequent years.

USDA zones are essentially only minimum winter temperature, Canadian plant hardiness zones take other things into consideration too, hence the differences. Not an expert myself, you can Google the issue.

dns for hobbits might still be too big :)

Any other dwarf varieties, perhaps?

cultivars of hemlock?

You might want to check the ph around that cement, it might be too high.

Hemlock can be sheared and makes a nice hedge. Seems like a waste of a beautiful tree, but it can be done.

I think your best bet is not a conifer at all, but the z4 hardy boxwood varieties. For your needs, 'Green Mountain' would probably be an excellent choice. Shade Tolerant and can be sheered easily. http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/403/green-mountain-boxwood/

Yes, I would consider hardy boxwood that won't die on me every other year. I would not even mind if it changes color in winter.

Dwarf Norway spruces pointed to further up in the thread (thanks, wayne!) turn out to be promising candidates for this 'low conifer hedge' application, here is one such cultivar: (handsome enough to be a stand-alone specimen!)

Picea abies 'Pumila' from http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/1946/dwarf-norway-spruce/

Google finds more dwarf Norway spruces https://www.google.ca/search?q=Picea+abies+dwarf&rls=com.microsoft:en-CA:IE-Address&biw=1043&bih=510&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiUnPKM-ZHQAhWf3oMKHesbAuwQ7AkIJw#tbm=isch&q=Picea+abies+dwarf+cultivars

They all tend to be quite handsome :-) but also very slow growing :-(

Better than Pumila, (for low hedge) try Tompa Norway Spruce.

Ken, the difference between the hardiness zones is Canada uses more criteria to determine zone. In the U.S. "The hardiness zone map, most recently updated in 2012, is based only on average minimum winter temperatures observed over the past 30 years." Canada - "Canada's Plant Hardiness Zone Map is based on multiple climatic factors, including rainfall, humidity, and average snow depth in addition to minimum winter temperature.

Windsor, Ontario is zone 6b to us, which roughly equates to U.S. zone 5b.