Maybe it’s the turkey fertilizer these annoying vandals leave in my yard that helps the azaleas and roses here.

Strange. That doesn't quite look like the 'George Tabor' plants I've seen in the SE US. Maybe something about the soil chemistry causes different shadings. The first picture looks closer.

BUT WAIT - update - maybe just a matter of camera color balance. Now that I google them, I see a range of hues, so that is probably a dominant influence. I'm convinced in some petals, there are ultraviolet pigments that are not picked up by normal camera sensors. IRL, 'George Tabor' has a cool, almost electric 'mauviness without really being mauve' quality, that most DIGITAL pictures don't capture.

I saw a rhodie at Rarefind years ago that looked oddly similar to GT, though I never nailed down the ID. The plant I bought a couple years later to possibly be a match, will finally now bloom this spring. (That was based on a hunch from Ron Rabideau, the erstwhile manager of Rarefind. They used to have SO many unnamed hybrids there. It was crazy.) So it will bloom unless something happens! Squirrels seem to semi-randomly select one plant to bite buds from each spring! And so I will finally find out if I got it. It is 'Max Roseum' X 'Skipper' (pink form). I also have smaller 'Max Roseum' X 'Skipper'(yellow form) that will bloom in 2-3 years. But they are really more of a cream color.

They could have been mislabeled when I bought them, but I have always thought they’re were George Tabor as labeled. I bought 5 at the same place a few years ago. I want 4 more of the same, so I better propagate them from cuttings if we are not sure if they’re George Tabor or not!

I think it's probably just a color balance issue. It's an easy variety to produce and very popular in the trade, so I'm not sure why a nursery would mislabel one.

Beautiful cultivar in any case, one of my favorite azaleas...I've tried 2 of them and have been burnt (or should I say frozen LOL) twice. I usually give a plant I really want a 3rd try before giving up completely haha.

Annoying thing is I know of one in a garden in Alexandria, VA, but they are just a hair milder down there than I am...so, it is what it is.

Darn David that stinks! It’s one of my favorites too. So showy. Do stones retain heat well in your climate? I notice areas near large stones here tend to give just enough protection for pushing a half a zone or so. Or somewhere closer to a structure? House, fence, shed?