I would have slowly acclimated it to 'more' sun in stages. Sometimes that prevents the droopiness as the leaves are hardy enough at times but not hardy enough with other rhodies. I plant above the surrounding not much though. 1/2" above or so in case things settle down. Feel free to give it "extra" shade with an outside chair or umbrella.

Morning sun and afternoon shade sounds ideal. But agree that it may just be some transplant shock from the recent planting in a new environment. Can you post a photo?

As to the root system feeling dry and brittle, that 's not been my experience. Rhodies tend to have a very shallow, almost flat (pancake-like) root structure consisting of a mass of very dense, mat-like roots. And you can't go wrong planting 'high' with these. I generally plant with at least half the root ball above grade and gently mound soil up to the top of the rootball but not over it.

I see nothing wrong with that plant at all. It looks perfectly fine!

Really!? Yay!

It looks healthy to me too. Congrats! Nowhere even close to dying. It is finishing up its bloomage. It may not like all those rocks around as its small roots are in the top 4" or so but they may just be "small enough" for the roots to ignore or not leech lime. If any of those rocks leech lime, you may want to monitor yearly for chlorosis.

Like the little rock’s right? Not the paver/border stones, right? I will clean that out And will add more fresh soil and mulch around it. I just dug it up (2 days ago) to inspect. Thanks for the feedback! 😊

Rocky soil - glacial till - is standard where I live. Picking out rocks like what are showing in your photo would be an endless task and IMO, completely unnecessary. I wouldn't worry about the lime issue....if any of those rocks were limestone based, your soil pH would be off enough to make life inhospitable for rhodies or other ericaceous plants in the first place. And rocks don't really leach minerals......their impact to the soil comes from weathering or the very gradual degradation of the rock over an extended period of time.

I'd be more concerned about any concrete in the immediate area....that DOES leach lime and can have an adverse impact on soil pH. But is relatively easily adjusted for.

Whatever you do, don't bury the crown of your plant in more soil or mulch. Use just enough mulch to help with moisture control and weed suppression and feather it out from the base so that it is very thin under the body of the plant but thickens as you get out past the drip line.