Dirca palustris is one of the quieter gems of the eastern North American woodland flora — slow-growing, long-lived, and genuinely rare enough that finding a nursery specimen requires some effort. In its natural habitat it favors rich, calcareous soils in forested bottomlands and slopes, growing alongside spring ephemerals in the kind of deep, humus-rich shade where few shrubs thrive. It ranges from the Appalachians through the Midwest, found in North Carolina ascending to 1,500 meters in Ashe County. The pliable twigs were used as cordage by Native Americans, and the common name "wicopy" likely comes from an Algonquin word.

In the garden, leatherwood settles into a dense, rounded form reaching 4 to 6 feet in moist, part-shade conditions. Its pale green oval leaves emerge after the flowers, turn yellow in fall, and carry none of the showiness this plant earns at other times of year. The real moments come earlier: the small, pale yellow bell-shaped flowers appearing in February or March on otherwise bare twigs are startling in the best way, a reminder that spring begins before it looks like it. Fruits and roots carry mild toxicity, and some people experience skin reactions to bark contact, so handle with care.