can we see the whole plant ...

does it get wet everyday from lawn irrigation???

just planted last year.. how did you plant.. any landscape fabric.. how do you water ...etc

give us some facts to work with besides a few spots ...

ken

Planted by our landscape architect’s crew. Well of soil around it to hold water. 3-4 inches of mulch. No landscape fabric. Watered whenever the soil was dry, every other day when it got hot, a couple of times per week when it was cooler. Good soaking of root ball when watering. No lawn irrigation nearby.

Correction, on further inspection, the brown spots on the backs of the leaves do not come off when I rub them, I thought they did, sorry.

New growth looks a bit better than the older foliage. Sited in part sun. Flowered well this year despite the spots.

Symptoms look very like a lacewing infestation. These are sucking insects that can do a lot of leaf damage to ericaceous plants, like rhodies, azaleas and pieris.

I would say azalea lace bug.