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Rhododendron 'Purple Splendour'    (a R. ponticum hybrid)

• Broadleaf evergreen shrub, 5 ft (1.5 m) tall in 10 years.  Leaves dark green and reticulate above, oblong-elliptic to about 15 cm long, 5-6.5 cm wide, acute or obtuse at the apex.  About 15 flowers in a compact cluster, each is broadlly funnel-shaped, 7.5 cm wide, strongly ribbed, wavy-edged, violet-purple with a black blotch.  ("King of the royal purples".)
• -5^o F, mid-late, 4/3/3.  Sun or shade, easy to grow, but requires good drainage.
• Developed by A. Waterer before 1900.
• Not to be confused with the evergreen azalea 'Purple Spendor'.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: south and north of the Biddle statue northeast of the Memorial Union.