I've got one limping along beneath a pine, where it is shaded much of the time and nearby plants get watered in summer. I will probably move it to a drier, sunnier position at some point. It is planted on Camano Island. There are native examples some miles away growing along a road, among other shrubs including serviceberry. Another place I have seen it in western WA is the north side of Commencement Bay in Tacoma, where multiple individuals can be seen on the south-facing, cliff-like slope above the road that skirts the Bay. There is also plenty of poison oak there.

Spectacular? The visual interest is in the closely viewed details such as the scales. Hardly as conspicuous as red-flowering currant, Pacific dogwood or even the serviceberry - when these are in flower. Many people would overlook it.

Shade-loving? Maybe not so much on this side of the mountains. That nearly vertical site in Tacoma is pretty sunny-looking.

"Occurs predominantly in continental boreal and cool temperate climates on very dry to moderately dry, nitrogen-medium soils; its occurrence increases with increasing continentality. Common in semi-open forests on water-shedding sites; scattered on the leeward side of Vancouver Island; plentiful in the coast-interior ecotone. Often associated with Calamagrostis rubescens, Linnaea borealis, and Paxistima myrsinites. Symbiotic with nitrogen-fixing organisms. Characteristic of continental forests"

--Klinka/Krajina/Ceska/Scagel, Indicator Plants of Coastal British Columbia (1989, UBC Press, Vancouver)

Thanks for the all info BBoy. I do think it is spectacular in early March, although it's all a matter of timing. Those sienna-colored fuzzy leaves appear long before the red currants (and everything else) in the garden, except maybe for some hellebores and galanthus. And they can be seen clear across the yard. I have never found any "stands" of it here on San Juan Island where i live. Mine seems to have doubled in size since I cut down a scraggly willow that was shading it for several years. It has been here as long as me which is 25 years.

The kind of shrub you only see here and there on our side of the mountains. Any fruiting?