Mountain Laurel, Rhodos and Azaleas should do well in shade, but it depends on how much. Inkberry is a good choice, too. If that area is north-facing, you'll find a harder time than if it is south-facing. How much shade does it get from the house?

If there's just too much shade, you can limb up the maple (best done before the spring sap run).

Definitely think Rhododendrons could work! Not sure on azaleas or laurel though (never really liked either), and I think I want the bulk of the bed not to flower - this is an area I want to fade into the background, not draw attention.

House is nowhere nearby, so no shade from that. I’d say it gets at least 3 hours of sun in the morning and then is in what I’d call bright shade for most of the rest of the day.

The area faces due west. The far side of the bed in the photo I posted is north.

You need to be aware that underplanting any of our large native maples can be very challenging due to their widespreading and aggressive root system that sucks up soil moisture and nutrients. So not only is the area partial shade, it is also dry shade and you need to select plants accordingly. Some dry shade tolerant BLE choices include sweetbox (Sarcococca species), aucuba, mahonia, osmanthus, fatsia, Japanese holly and elaeagnus. All are fully hardy in zone 7.

Neither rhodies, azaleas (just a type of rhododendron) or mountain laurel are recommended for these conditions.

with almost 30 y of gardening (and training and studying) under my belt I think those are some very solid recommendations from Gardengal

yes, never underestimate the competitive power of established trees, especially Acer-species,

and Rhododendron would hate the dry conditions near the trunk

Aukuba is available as plain green species as well,

and another hard as nail, evergreen plant for difficult spots is Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae. It does spread somewhat by short runners, is from souterhn Europe, so check for inavsivness issues for your region

The Euphorbia mentioned above is a low groundcover. There are other groundcovers that would do well in that dry shady location, but I think you need to get your large shrubs first, right?

And if that's the road we see in that photo, salt would be a factor too.

Thanks all! That’s not the road, it’s the end of the driveway. I rarely use salt and snow and ice are not much of an issue in coastal Southwestern Connecticut these days.

The root competition is a good point. To the extent it matters, the existing bed has drip irrigation and five large hydrangea macrophylla did well in this location.

Any deciduous trees or large shrubs that hold leaves for a long time I should consider? Any American holly that would work here? Otherwise based on suggestions a more formal Japanese holly hedge may be the most appealing option.

Sorry, that wasn’t clear. I meant that in looking at the plant suggestions, none but Japanese Holly were particularly appealing to me, so a change in plan to a more formal monoplanting may be best. With respect to irrigation - it’s already there and the whole system doesn’t cost more than $40/mo to run, so the expense is not a concern. It may be insufficient to overcome the root competition issue, but I did want to point it out.

How about hydrangea paniculata this time. Garden Center in Darien is a source.

Panicle hydrangeas really perform best in full sun. Far less flowering in part shade and dry conditions. They are of course full deciduous as well.

And of all the suggestions provided, Japanese holly may be the least interesting.....and will be even less so if planted as a monoculture.

Thanks! I'm not going for interesting - I'm looking for a screen for the end of my driveway. The idea is to blend away the neighbors' house and yard. I was hoping to create something that would look naturalistic (to me, that doesn't really mean interesting and unusual plants - it means a variety of heights/sizes/types of plants that blend in well here in Southern New England), but if that won't work, then a solid hedge is probably the best option.

I appreciate the suggestion for panicle hydrangea but no, it wouldn't do well in that location and also doesn't provide screening.

You have an attractive fence in place. Extending it for the length necessary to screen with a scalloped end and newel post can do the trick.

I'd go with Dan's suggestion for placing the white fencing between the two of you. I did not read all of the above comments, but are those sparce looking trees directly upon the property line and are either of you particularly fond of them? A solid fence would go a long ways in screening out their house and a few well placed trees could further enhance blocking to make the space feel so much more private.

So, I definitely thought about a fence. I actually hate the white plastic (it gets mildewy and is flimsy) but doing a nice cedar privacy fence for the roughly 20' that's necessary to screen plus a gate to access behind the garage would be at least $3,500, and will need maintenance and repairs over the years. While I think I could do quite well with a plant budget of $1,500. And plantings both provide a home for wildlife and will eventually exceed 6' in height, which is the maximum for fences in my area.

I don't know whose sparse trees those are because they're not shown on my property survey, but based on conversations with the neighbor, they would likely want to keep them as they do provide some screening to their second story and they recently complained to me bitterly about a neighbor who cut down trees along their other property line. They aren't attractive, but they're not really an issue as they don't contribute to the shade that is limiting the plant selection for the area.

Sounds like you're leaning towards a solution that works best for yourself and the not so friendly neighbor. I have similar problem, the folks also having a two storey home and what had been a moderately sparse natural forest screening between us. Thankfully, the scrawny trees they long ago planted and the forest that separates us have both filled in sufficiently that our home are now barely seen to one another.

In addition to being a nice person, tree removal ain't cheap!