That's the one with probably the smallest leaves. And the easiest to get hold of :-) There are other species rhodies with very small leaves but you would have to hunt them down through some mail order source or specialty nursery as they are not all that common.

Thanks GardenGal,

I'd been admiring one for a couples years down the road from the house I bought, and finally figure out what it was! I thought it was an azalea (I know, the distinction isn't clear between the two species), and I asked what the smallest leaf azalea is - a lot of people suggested Hino Crimson, which I have, and it isn't nearly as compact as this plant.

I saw one from Latvia on Etsy, and a poorly rated seller on Amazon with "starter" plants. It looks like Lowe's carries Monrovia, but not necessarily impeditum. Plant Lust has them listed, but the price seems a bit high compared to what I think I'd pay locally. Any suggestions?

I have no idea what to tell you. Here, every nursery carries them in spring - they are as common as mud. I've even seen them at Home Depot.

Jon,

As far as mail-order sources, keep in mind that Plant Lust doesn't actually grow or sell plants directly, but rather partners with various nurseries to display plants from their inventories and provides links so you can buy directly from them. Using those links I found R. impeditum on the following sites:

Gossler Farms: $20 for a 1 gal. plant: https://gosslerfarms.com/?item=rhododendron-impeditum

Bloom River Gardens: $25 for a "5-6 inch" plant and $35 for a "6-9 inch plant": https://www.bloomriver.com/page_521_11/rhododendron_impeditum.html

Thanks!

My guess is gardengal is right - I'll either spot them at my local nursery, or I can ask them to get some. I don't know why they aren't more popular!

Rhododendron nakarahae has some of the smallest leaves I've seen and the whole plant grows very small in a somewhat carpet like manner. It is also one of the latest blooming Rhododendrons (summer in PNW). There are quite a few small growing lepidote species with minute leaves. This is the result of search for lepidote growing less than a foot in 10 years. Look through pictures to identify those with smallest leaves:

http://www.rhododendron.org/alphalist6.asp?Genus=R&Alpha=&SorH=&Color=&Size=1&BTime=&Fragrant=No&Hardy=Any&E_L=L

Thanks! That's helpful.

But if R. impeditum is not widely available in the OP's area, it is also unlikely that other, less well known species plants would be as well.

I have a tiny, dwarf species plant, R. megeratum. But you will never find this for sale outside of a specialty rhody mail order nursery........or an RSBG plant sale!! These are not what most folks are looking for when they think of rhododendrons. They want reasonably sized shrubs with big, blousey, brightly colored flowers. That is probably why these diminutive little dwarfs are less popular and less widely available.

Although I'd have to say that impeditum is pretty much a garden standby here :-)

I see the small leaf ones occassionally, but much less often than the large ones, or azaleas. I like my reblooming azalea, but R. impeditum is more attractive than an azalea. So it is probably a regional thing to a degree, at least in so far as what the locally nurseries are ordering. I don't recall seeing any over the last couple years, but I could have missed it and they are always willing to order something if I ask.

I'm a bit surprised that RareFinds Nursery doesn't carry it. They seem to be one of the leaders in less common rhody and azalea plants for your area. And it's a super hardy little buggar!!

Rhododendrons Direct in OR is another mailorder source for r. impeditum. Several sizes available, reasonable prices and excellent customer service. Rarefind Nursery is in area of heat and high humidity in southern NJ. R. impeditum would struggle at best and more likely not survive in such conditions. Rarefind has also shifted its emphasis to deciduous and evergreen azaleas rather than rhododendrons. R. impeditum is certainly hardy to at least -10 but benefits greatly from wind and sun protection during the winter.

Thanks!

Purple Gem is pretty small in all parts. I am not familiar with the others so can’t compare, but Purple Gem is fairly common here.

Good choice, NHBabs. I was going to suggest Ramapo (not sure of the name spelling?) but PG resembles Ramapo and is shorter. Two other likes I have of PG: the leaves (because they start kind of blue-ish) and the blooms (because PG has deeper violet/purple flowers).

Thanks all. Looks like PG is more available than Impeditum. However, I'm finding conflicting info regarding the leaf size. Using the link above, Rhododendron.org, it says PG has smaller (1/2 inch) leaves compared to Impeditum (5/8 inch). Other websites / threads say that impeditum has the smallest leaves while PG looks just like a miniature rhody.

Any definitive answer from folks who have both, or have compared side by side? I can't find any side-by-side comparison pics.

All mentioned are extremely commonly planted here. By a large margin, impeditum has the smallest leaves, tiny and very narrow.....the others just look like evergreen azaleas :-) And are often mistaken for them.

So I got a Rhododenron Ramapo and Impeditum. I had to get the impeditum online (from Gossler - thanks for the suggestion!). The Impeditum definitely has small leaves - maybe half the size by surface area. And the plant is more petite in general. However, the Ramapo is also miniature in appearance with nicely shaped and colored leaves (some azaleas have more club-shaped leaves than evenly oval shaped).

Both have bigger leaves than some that I've seen. There are a couple homes that have rhody/azalea bushes with leaves may 3/4 the size of the Impeditum. Likewise, I was just fortunate enough to visit the Keukenhof, and while tulips don't grab me, the azaleas, wisteria and trees were beautiful. Again, some rhody/azalea plants with much tinier leaves. Not that I need to buy one of these so much as I'm quite curious. The plant shop near me swore that PJM was the smallest leaf rhody out there, but it was bigger than my Ramapo.

Perhaps your nearby plant shop meant that PJM had the smallest leaves of any rhododendron easily available. There are many rhododendrons, species and hybrids, which have much smaller leaves than PJM but none of them are easy to find and none would be easy to grow in areas with high summer heat/humidity. Many of them are not terribly hardy, either. Among the ones I have grown myself are: campylogynum v. myrtilloides, leucaspis, hippophaeoides, russatum, Maricee (which may be the species segeantianum), intricatum (which is very difficult to distinguish from impeditum), Blue Ridge (in my experience the hardiest of the "blue" hybrids). There is a large number of small leaved hybrids, mostly with purple flowers that have been developed over the years often with r. Impeditum as one of the parents.

Bloom River Gardens has a good selection of small leaved species, as does the RSBG. Using any of these small leaved lepidotes for bonsai could potentially solve the hardiness problem, but wouldn't help much with the heat and humidity issue.

I just found a Duc De Rohan with really small leaves this morning at my local nursery. I’m going to bonsai it after my new tools arrive this weekend.

Here it is