We have very few native shrubs that are both evergreen and shade-tolerant. If you are able to utilize some that are deciduous (leafless in winter, even if they have other points of interest like showy bark) that will give you a few more options. Site conditions like whether deer browsing will be an issue and how wet or dry the soil stays (does it drain well?) will also help us to make suggestions. Where possible, we encourage gardeners to mix species when planting a row or border so the entire planting is more resilient in the face of a possible future pest or disease outbreak or damaged by unusual weather. (This is because the species won't share the same vulnerabilities so if one suffers a setback the others will still be ok.)

Below are some starter ideas (in no particular order) for evergreens tolerant of part shade to mostly shade, ignoring for the moment any problems with deer or soil extremes of wet or dry. Some species are not technically native in Maryland but occur naturally somewhat nearby (ecologically speaking, anyway), such as a few states to our south (while still being cold-hardy enough here, at least most of the time). These will come close to your desired mature size, though minor pruning now and then to tweak height or width as desired might be possible for any that mature larger.

• Florida Leucothoe (Agarista populifolia, might be listed as Leucothoe populifolia instead)
• Mountain-laurel (Kalmia latifolia) - only if you are ok with the plant being slow-growing and eventually bare on the bottom branches (which can easily be hidden a bit with perennials like ferns); this is not amenable to shearing or regular pruning
• American Holly (Ilex opaca) - if you are interesting in using a dwarf variety (like 'Maryland Dwarf') to fill-in in front of lankier shrubs since no variety commonly found on the market will mature in the height range you prefer (they'll either be much too tall as a mid-size tree or only half the desired height at best); all are slow-growing
• a dwarf cultivar of Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), of which there are several; be aware, though, that they prefer our cooler western foothills and might contract Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, an aphid-like pest, especially if heat-stressed; they will be easier to trim, though, than many of these other options as long as you don't drastically change their height (which is why we suggest only dwarf forms); there are newly-released selections of hybrid Hemlocks that the National Arboretum produced to be resistant to adelgids, but they mature taller than you wanted so might not be as useful unless you can accommodate larger plants in part of the screen
• Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra) - this is akin to the Mountain-laurel in that older shrubs naturally lose their lowermost, interior foliage so will have bare bottoms you might want to cover-up with native woodland perennials; pruning will not resolve this legginess (in fact too much pruning for height can make it worse, not that you should need to prune since they don't get too tall); additionally, while Inkberry is fairly tolerant of dappled shade, it may exacerbate the legginess over time, so this may be more of a fill-in accent than a shrub you rely on by itself to screen fully
• Anise-shrub (Illicium, several species and hybrid varieties) - some are non-native (but not invasive) while others are hybrids between natives and non-natives or just native to our south; a harsh winter could cause leaf damage or branch tip dieback but usually they are unharmed or only minimally (and temporarily) damaged, and likely will be more reliable long-term given the warming impacts of climate change
• Devilwood / American Olive / American Osmanthus (Osmanthus americanus, recently re-named Cartrema americana) - shares a few different names and isn't easily found in local garden centers so might need sourcing online; specimens grown at the U.S. Botanic Garden in D.C. and at Mt. Cuba in Delaware have generally fared well in the past decade or so; native to our south but should be fine in most winters and may develop temporary leaf or branch tip damage like the Illicium if we experience a harsh cold snap or unusually cold winter

Deciduous candidates with showy blooms and sometimes also berries, if interested:

• Redosier Dogwood (Cornus sericea/stolonifera) and Silky Dogwood (Cornus amomum) - several cultivars have colorful bark on the youngest twigs; Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa) too but doesn't have prominent winter twig color
• Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)
• Arrowwood Viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) and Witherod Viburnum (Viburnum nudum)
• Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
• Carolina Allspice (Calycanthus floridus) - native to our south but sufficiently cold-hardy here
• Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) - native to our south but sufficiently cold-hardy here

 A few non-native options (to our knowledge, these are not invasive at present):

• False Holly / Holly-leaf Osmanthus (Osmanthus heterophyllus)
• any number of hybrid holly varieties (Ilex)
• Aucuba (Aucuba japonica)
• Japanese Pieris (Pieris japonica) - there is a native species, Pieris floribunda, but it's very hard to find and prefers our cooler western foothills to central MD summer heat

Due to invasive potential and/or widespread over-planting, we do not recommend using Privet (Ligustrum) or Euonymus.

Miri

Thank you again. This is very helpful!

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You're welcome!