You can also consider the herb Rosemary. It's a tough as nails plant ... the shade should keep it from growing too fast and you can easily prune it if it starts to get too tall.

The shortest and most like a groundcover is S. hookeriana var humilis. It gets to be around a foot tall and forms a slow spreading colony over time. There are two that are more like small shrubs, S. confusa and S. orientalis. They both have a nice sweet fragrance, only confusa seems to be more powerful to my nose. The last is S. saligna which has the appearance of a large hookeriana, but I believe it is the least cold hardy of the bunch. I've had it only a year so its still kind of new, but I've read it can spread a bit too(another similarity to hookeriana). Each species except saligna, so far, also produces attractive berries too. Confusa has the best as they go from red to black at maturity. As you might guess, confusa is my favorite. I have an old photo of it to share to give you some idea.....

I know you posted in shrubs and not perennials, but hosta comes to mind too. if winter interest is necessary, you could stick evergreen boughs in it for color.