Our previous country road dwelling was north facing too.
The old owners had installed a hedge of current bushes and a cedar tree at each driveway entrance. (it was a half circle drive, so had two entrys) Even tho the plantings were barely legal in that they were partly on county owned right-of-way, they survived the salt and snow loads very well. In the States, depending on the 'class' of the country road, the county or town owns x number of feet from the center of the road bed, often into what homeowners consider their lawn. Anyway, we removed the hedge eventually, and my husband labored away building a stone wall, dry stacked. We learned the set back laws and installed the wall further away from the road. It was a labor of love for him and that wall will be standing 100 years from now. Truly a thing of beauty! Behind the wall we planted a varied mix of evergreen, white birch and Hickory.
So what I meant to say before rambling on, the cedars did just fine and the currents did too.
Pondy