Yews are more tolerant of cold and wind than boxwood. Box usually has to be carefully sited in zone 5 - little winter sun or wind - to be successful.

Thank you, Christine and mad gallica! I think that either boxwood or yews might do well there. Maybe the yews would look better for that spot... I am going to look into it. Thanks again!

I have this same dilemma and have a few solutions but am very undecided!
I am currently looking into the:
Cephalotaxus harringtonia Fastigiata - Columnar Plum-yew Cupressus sempervirens - Italian Cypress
Juniperus scopulorum - Skyrocket Juniper

I have a wedge shaped space between us and the neighbors that narrows to about 5 feet (of OUR property, not between the houses). It is a north wall that gets a little morning sun, like maybe an hour, and then gets the afternoon/evening sun shining down from the wide end, have not figured out exactly what time that starts at yet though ;p
I am quite an avid edible landscaper so all of these are edible (yew and juniper) or medicinal (cypress).
My issue is that the yew is the only one that will appreciate the shade, but it is also the shortest, at about 8', and slow growing. What I was really wanting is a wind break for our two story house, and so 8' won't really do it... but will the skyrocket or cypress succeed in the shade? and is it really silly to be interested in planting such a potentially tall tree as the cypress on a small lot, in a narrow space?

Any ideas or opinions welcome, I hope you will forgive me for jumping in like this ostrich!

I wouldn't recommend the conifers for a shady area, especially the cypress or juniper. Being in zone 8, you have lots of options, but the edible/medicinal criteria is difficult to satisfy. My best suggestion is Camellia sinensis, for tea production, but I'm not sure it gets tall enough naturally to provide much screening. I'm growing a flat hedge of mixed camellias in a similar space, pruning them into a narrow "wall" in sort of an unsupported espalier and tying the branches together where they intersect. It's a long term project, but provides color from September through April due to the variety of cultivars involved. The same technique might work with something more vigorous, but less ornamental, like photinia (I hate to suggest that, but it works in some situations). Osmanthus frangrans does fairly well in shade, as do (believe it or not - I didn't at first) Gardenias. Both of these are naturally spreading shrubs, but can be trained and pruned into a somewhat 2-dimensional shape. The kind of height you're after is a tall order - no pun intended!

Ostrich,
I'd be cautious about doing the boxwoods - I've seen some that looked good for years planted in a northerly wind exposed spot, then we get a tough winter and the right half of the bush dies back, or the 2 middle bushes in a row of 6 just die... and they are slow growers so you can't just replace 1 or 2 in a row and hope they quickly catch-up in size to look similar to the survivors.
Cold winds can do alot of damage - and boxwoods grow very slow.

artdeco, thank you so much for your input!

I think that we will probably go with some smaller leaf rhodies, such as Girard, Stewartstonian or Hershey pink, or something like that. Hopefully these will be good for that area in zone 5b/6a!

Thanks again!

If there is no conideration for the deers, azaleas might work there, but...in 5b all Girard's and Hershey's hybrids will be semi-evergreen. I'm not sure about Gable's 'Stewartstonian'. In any event, all those azaleas will be much wider than alloted 3' and in my eyes there are no more sorrow looking plants than sheared azaleas. Contrary, dwarf pierises (Prelude, Compacta, etc) now become readily available and they could serve the purpose with a minimal pruning.
Re: boxwoods. There are many decent cultivars with a korean blood in them (they are relatively fast growing and hardy) and to address very valid concern expressed by artdeco, your friend should grow 2-3 spare plants somewhere on property which could be used as substitutes if necessary.

What's the pH? Pieris, azaleas and rhododendrons all want acidic soil, and will crash and burn if they don't get it.

My message may not get seen here but, as opposed to starting a new thread, I decided to ask it here since it is very similar to the question by ostrich. I live in north Georgia, zone 7, and am also looking for a narrow evergreen foudatios shrub that will not grow too wide. The foundation wall I plan to plant covers about 12-15 feet in length on the northwest side of my residence, so there is little sun. The ground stays more moist than dry. I asked around here before and everyone suggests acubas, which i have planted in front of my residence, but i feel they will grow too wide and too deep. Any other opinions are greatly appreciated.

jddawg37,
There are plenty of small azaleas that will do well in described conditions (if deers is not an issue).
Also, in z7 you could easily grow boxleaf euonymus or any kind of boxwoods, for the more formal look if desired.

Junipers in shade can look downright yicky!

I'm not sure how this would do in your zone or in a northern exposure but I am trying ilex sky pencil in a narrow spot. It is evergreen and more hardy than boxwood according to the local nurseryman. But please check out the zone and sun requirements before considering.

I have a shed in my backyard that has a north facing area I would like to plant some drought tolerant and low maintainance shrubs. I am located in zone 8 in northwest florida