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Thanks!

What shape and size were the flowers? Any idea how many petals? Also, where are you generally? (What zone?)

Because rhododendrons have dense fibrous roots that make easy transplanting possible a tiny specimen like this can probably be scooped up using an adequately large tool and replanted now. Without much loss of roots having taken place.

As long as sufficient care and finesse are employed.

"As long as sufficient care and finesse are employed." Yes.

I don't have that much faith.

Whatever it is, it is not a rhododendron. Rhododendrons do not produce leaves in that formation nor with tiny little leaves emerging from the branch ends.

"tiny little leaves emerging from the branch ends."

Those are odd, but could they be the finished flower parts?

Nope!!

Popping up a rhododendron this small and not having it be bothered is nothing, unless a body has no idea at all about how to go about it.

Closer views needed to further assess suggested identification. Statement of geographic location would also help decide what kinds might be expected.

We are in Ambler, Pennsylvania just outside oh Philadelphia. I’ve attached a closer photo of the leaves.

Thank you everyone!

Is it aromatic when handled?

I'm sticking with the PJM Rhododendron. Where's floral_UK when you need them?

Jenn, do you know what an azalea/rhododendron flower looks like? Did the fuchsia flower look like that?

No aroma. It did seem similar to an azalea flower, especially the size, but I didn’t pay attention to the detail of appearance. Now the flowers are gone :-(. We do have azalea flowers nearby but the leaves are definitely different-they are smaller and more numerous.

Christopher, look again closely. It looks nothing like a PJM rhododendron. It looks nothing like any kind of rhododendron!

I don't have any better idea as to what it is but I can say with certainty that it is NOT a PJM rhody. They - and all other kinds of rhododendrons - are very commonplace here.

Gardengal I agree with you it is an odd looking PJM rhododendron, very full and round, but that's what it is. What we are seeing is the fresh, expanding, spring leaf growth of a young plant in who knows what conditions in Pennsylvania. That new growth phase is a short window of time when we might be distracted by countless other things.

I hope you will agree the following pictures are a PJM. I captured a photo of the odd protuberance at the branch tip from her first pictures. You were right. It's not a used flower part. It is an emerging leaf.

Forgive the wind whipped, frost bit look of the new growth on this PJM. I had to look all over to find some that wasn't completely frozen.

And just for the entertainment value, here is some Allium tricoccum, better known as Ramps. It's what's for supper.

No aroma. It did seem similar to an azalea flower, especially the size

If the flowers looked like those of an azalea (or other rhododendron) then it's a rhododendron.

'P.J.M', like other lepidote rhododendrons is quite aromatic when handled. If you got no smell before then try rubbing it or doing something else to activate this aspect of the plant. If you still get nothing then apparently it's not 'P.J.M.' (or any other aromatic dwarf rhododendron).

Unless your nose is unable to pick this particular aroma up, for some reason.

Also you can of course check by looking at photos of the flowers of 'P.J.M.'

Thank you again everyone! I will try rubbing a leaf against a wall and see if it has any aroma then. Christopher those veggies look so fresh! The leaves of your PJM definitely look similar to my leaves. This poor bugger I have is stuck in a dark corner of our house, blocked by large shrubs on one side, and still looks so much healthier than a handful of the new plants we had installed in the fall! I‘m looking forward to carefully transplanting it where its beauty will be more visible and its growth will be even better!

Here's what we call PJM rhodie. Pix taken this morning outside a Maryland Safeway. No clue what OP has.

Other than sam's photos, I'm not agreeing anything I've seen in this thread is a PJM!!

What!!! You are telling me the photo's I posted of the leaves of a PJM rhodie in my mother's garden that I have looked at and watched bloom for the last 12 years is not a PJM. Is it a rhododendron do you think? Cause if you don't think it is a rhodie, I can go find a picture.

I did find an unfrozen PJM in fresh growth last week. Note the tiny spatulas in the very tip, another new leaf.

And the PJM shrub it is growing on.

Where is floral_uk?

I'm here. I have absolutely no idea what this is and I've never seen a PJM rhododendron, so I'm staying out of it.

Drats. You are good. I was most impressed with your Myrica pensylvanica sleuthing.

In addition to being noticeably aromatic - no crushing of a leaf should be necessary - 'P.J.M' is covered in small scales (lepidia). So in addition to looking at pictures of the flowers of this variety Jenn can advance the discussion by checking these two points and coming back to the thread with their findings.

Another step they can take toward possible resolution is snipping a piece of their plant and comparing it in person with rhododendrons at gardens and nurseries. Of course, there have been some limitations on access to plant places in effect recently. But 'P.J.M' being a frequently offered variety means that for instance Sam was able to find some bloomed out leftover ones outside a grocery store.

Here is said shrub from which the frost bit leaves I posted above came from in full bloom. No other rhododendron on this mountain blooms in late March. It is a PJM rhododendron.

Here is a closer look. Is it a rhododendron yet?