Rhododendron Kiusianum Mauve. Likes bright shade to full sun, moist very well draining soil, and will likely fail in soil that is too damp or drains poorly. Flowers, leaves and young shoots are covered in fine hairs. Semi-evergreen, in some years it will lose the majority of its leaves, makes a wonderful winter impact with its many upright rust-red twigs, with quarter-inch tiny shiny green leaves only at the branch tips at winter's end. It will be more strongly evergreen in a protected location. As a subject of bonsai, it can be kept as a micro-shrub. In the garden it grows to 2 or 3 feet in ten years, usually wider than it is tall. It does not require pruning, but if some trimming is needed for symmetry, it is done late spring when flowering is done. Violet/lavender-coloured, funnel-shaped, two or three funnels per truss.