No direct sun is not at all the same as full shade :-) A north facing foundation planting - providing there are not wide, overhanging eaves - is often quite bright but with little to no direct sunlight. It is bright but indirect light. The presence of the tree may reduce that brightness in the afternoon but it should still provide plenty of light for shrubs that tolerate partial and light shade. And allow them to flower adequately as well.

The narrowness is challenging :-) There are few things that come to mind for my zone and growing conditions but all I can think of that would work for you is Kerria japonica. And you would have to keep on top of any suckers to maintain a narrow profile. And maybe 'Beanpole' yew.

For perennials you might consider an actaea or aconitum but neither will produce quite the height you are looking for.......

Thanks for both responses so far.

I was hoping to plant something in this little corner on the north side of our house.

It's just a very prominent (parallels a long driveway), very long side of the house, and I wanted the height there for variety. That's the only reason. There's a Jane Magnolia on the opposite end of the house (that doesn't show up very well in the photo). I just thought I wanted something to balance the height.

I like Kerria, so that's a very interesting idea.

I had a thought overnight. What about a climbing plant of some kind? I've never done any and have no experience with what might work.

I'm in rural Kansas. Hot summers, cold winters, lots of wind. I'm a little over an hour west of Kansas City.

I second kerria, the only shrub I’ve found that grows reliably and even blooms well in full shade. Here’s a pic of one of ours in mid-May, this is back by the shed where little else will grow. Also keep in mind this is completely untrimmed, you can trim it back at will and into a nice vase shape with little effort. With luck it puts out a smaller second bloom in summer.

yikes .. i tell you.. a pic is worth thousands of words wasted ....

the volume of flowering.. on the petunia??? indicates there is no shade issue at all ...

and imo ... just about anything can be planted there.. without reservation ...

i would call that full BRIGHT SHADE ... which for 99% of plants.. is basically the same as full sun ... without the stress of hot sun.. which is often a watering issue ...

i love keria.. but it kind of a do its own thing sort of shrub ... i might not like it in front of the house ... but this is the side.. so it might work just fine ... i have never seen one over 4 or 5 feet ... in my MI anyway ... lets see some pix: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=kerria&t=ffcm&ia=images&iax=images

it does appear it can get bigger in other places.. but note that those that do.. also get wider.. so proper placement might be 6 or 8 feet from the house ...

ken

Thanks, Ken. Yes, the petunias and that little Pee Gee (which is supposed to be a tree form, but needs to be pruned again) curve out from the bay window and from under the eaves to get more sun than the rest of the plants along there. Plus, they don't get the filtered shade from the large pin oak at the left of the foreground. My empty corner that I'm trying to fill will have both the wall, the eaves, and the tree for shade. I've also found that wave petunias actually bloom well in other places on my property that are shady. I put shade coleus, caladiums and wave petunias in the same planter and they all do great.

I do agree that it's fairly bright shade along there.