Here's a nice bank of green poking out of a snowy roadside bank in Staten Island. Dog hobble, also called drooping laurel (Leucothoe), has two species which I'm not sure I can tell apart : L. axillaris and L. fontanesiana.
Since I was walking in the High Rock native area of the Greenbelt Conservancy, I'm guessing its L. fontanesiana, because that species is native from New York south, while L. axillaris is native from merely Virginia southward — although now that we are a warmer USDA zone 7B, Virginia natives should certainly do well here.
There are cultivars of L. fontanesiana available in the trade which I like to use in winter planters. Besides being winter-hardy and evergreen, they have the added bonus of turning a lovely burgundy once colder weather sets in. When admirers ask what the plant is called, I'm never quite sure which is less disappointing: dog hobble, or drooping laurel. Neither seems appropriate for this beautiful shrub.
Dog hobble and mountain laurel peeking out of a roadside snowbank in the Greenbelt on Staten Island