Japanese azalea not pulling its weight

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I bought this for just over a tenner earlier this year and I'm not saying it's bad. But it hasn't grown a jot and it hasn't come out in any of the blood red flowers it showed on the picture, not once.

I'd this idea it would be a reasonable sized azalea like the one I had in the same flower bed many years ago, at least a foot high - as with so many plants I do find it hard to get the measure of it from the picture, or even on Google Images. Is this the kind of thing like heather, where you plant it and - fair enough - after five years or so it really has grown a bit and is the real deal?

This year it was swamped by the marigolds which were actually taller. Am I going to have to wait years for this to be higher than any surrounding flowers?

What's your soil type? It likes acid soil. I add ericaceous compost to mine. How deep have you planted it?, it should be no deeper then it was in the pot, shallow rooted.
When did you buy it? flowering time is spring.
Have you been keeping it watered during the summer, its putting on its flower buds now for next year.

Looks like a dwarf one by the size of the leaves, and wait till spring, I bet it will be covered in flowers.

Azaleas are virtually indestructible. I had one at my old house in a pot. It died (nearly) one hot summer but I pruned it,watered,fed it and nursed it back to life.

I also now have one just like yours, I bought in full flower last spring and since I planted it, flowers died and it hasn’t grown a jot. But I’m not worried. I’ll probably feed it around February time just before it flowers. It’ll be fine 😁

It seems I may have defamed my azalea - I think what I was really looking for was a rhododendron (they're not the same, are they?) They tend to be larger.

All Azaleas are Rhododendrons; not all Rhododendrons are Azaleas.

Some Azaleas grow to nearly 2m

I agree with butterflyze, that’s a dwarf azalea. It will be slow growing and never more than a few inches tall. But v pretty when it flowers!
Why not plant a taller rhododendron behind it, OP? I have an ericaceous bed with rhodies, azaleas, pieris and heathers, going down in size towards the front of the border.