Where are you located? And what kind of trees are those that are providing the shade (many larger trees are difficult to plant close to, due to root competition and very dry soils)?

Southern Nh. Zone 5. I am not 100% sure of the trees, the soil is very root compact and in some spots the tree roots are exposed. Just to the right of the first picture I did get three hole dug, behind the cut tree stump, just to see if it was even possible to plant. I haven’t decided what to plant there either. I put these pots in so I would have a visual idea from the house. I can get about two feet deep and wide, I would still like something that would be aggressive and be tall enough to block the house

Following--i know this post is 5 years old. What did you end up doing? I'm also zone 5, looking to see what flowering hedge i could do in my mostly shade area under an Ash tree and Maple tree.