Wild Thyme Azalea               ro-do-DEN-dron ser-pil-i-FO-li-um

• Broadleaf evergreen spreading shrub, dense, 3-4 ft (0.9-1.2 m) high, slender wiry stems, covered with appressed dark brown bristles.  Leaves alternate, simple, small, 5-20 mm long and 3-6 mm wide, narrowly oval or obovate, base tapering to a very short petiole, margin with bristly hair, dark green above, and paler and with few bristles below.  Flowers pale rose or white (var. albiflorum), about 6 mm wide, funnel-shaped, 5 stamens, mostly solitary at the end of short twigs.
• -10°F (USDA Zone 6), early-mid; quality rating: 3/3/3 [flower / plant & foliage / performance; scale 1 (poor) - 5 (best)].   Sun.
• Native to Japan, southern half of Honshu and in Skikoku and Kyushu.  Introduced into England by C. Maries around 1880 and later to the U.S.
• serpyllifolium: with leaves like Thymus serphyllum.
• Seattle, Washington: Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden.
• Federal Way, Washington: Rhododendron Species Foundation and Botanical Garden.