Shrub suggestions for north container

I'd like some shrub suggestions for a container (18-20") sitting near my front door, north side of the house. zone 8. Little direct sun, but bright. I tried a pieris but it is not healthy and I need to replace it. Thanks.

 

Last winter hammered a lot of pieris, even those in the ground. I think the lack of sun would be a negative there as well, so better to go with another subject...

I'm thinking maybe aucuba and/or sarcococca, tho both might be bothered by container freezing in winter (root damage). Could a nandina fit your needs? They are a notch hardier than those first, and ours does fine on a north side. There are some evergreen ferns for possible (lower level) companions, e.g. polystichum neolobatum.

I would try to bring most containers up against the house during arctic blasts, even many "hardy" plants suffer from hard freezes of root systems (as in a container).

 

Evergreen options would include Rhododendrons, I would think, though I haven't grown these much in containers. The two conifer families that would work would be yew (Taxus) and hemlock (Tsuga) (though gold varieties of yew won't be very gold in shade). Boxwoods should also work, or there is an incredibly tough but prickly shrub called Ruscus that has neat berries - this one is rare but I saw some for sale at Dykhof a few weeks back.

 

Thanks for your suggestions. I just got back from the garden store and bought a nandina called plum passion. I was going to move the container last winter to a more sheltered spot, but forgot and then we had that nasty weather in November. I'll try to do better this year.

 

Something extra hardy like yew or box would be most reliable.