wrote:

I am looking for a dark purple azalea that I believe is an early
bloomer . I called a local gardening shop and they told me that the
dark purple is "Girard's Fuschia", but it looks more hot pink to me.
Does a dark purple azalea even exist? And if it does what is it
called?

First, are you looking or a deciduous or evergreen azalea? Most
deciduous azaleas are hardier, but there aren't many purple ones.

The evergreen Girards a

Girards's Fuschia is called "hot purple" or "reddish purple". It is an
evergreen azalea but not a dark purple. It is one of the best Girard
azaleas.

Girard's Dwarf Lavender is more of a purple rather than a lavender. One
of the most uniform and compact growing of all the evergreen azaleas. It
has excellent foliage vigor and hardiness and need no, or very little,
pruning. Excellent for small gardens and foundation plantings, Dwarf
Lavender displays a kaleidoscope of Fall colors including, orange,
yellow and green.

Girards's Leslie Purple has very large hose-in-hose purple blossoms on a
low and compact plant. Like all Girard's evergreen azaleas this one is
also very hardy. It blooms in early May.

Elsie Lee is a Shammarello evergreen azalea from Ohio also. It is a
light reddish-blueish-purple. The flowers appear in the middle of each
flowering season on this fine, hardy azalea. The large, simi-double
flowers are supported by a strong branching system covered with forest
green leaves.

Rhododendron yedoense var. poukhanense (Korean Azalea) is a purple/rose
evergreen azalea that is very hardy. Leaves are deciduous in cold
climates or semi-deciduous, dimorphic (two different forms, typical of
evergreen azaleas). Spring leaves are deep green on upper surface, paler
under-neath, and narrow.

Second, where in the world do you live?

The Girard and Shammarello azaleas are from Ohio, but they do best in
more moderate areas like Western Oregon and Western Washington, and the
milder parts of the mid-Atlantic region south of the Mason-Dixon line
over to the Ozarks. After about 3 years of age they are much hardier.
When young they are a little tender where I live in Zone 6. If you are
in a more extreme climate, stick to larger plants. You will do better.

Here is a key to some azalea color terms used in the trade:

lavender = pale purple
lilac = pale reddish purple
plum = reddish purple
fuchsia = reddish purple
wine = purple
--
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Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA Zone 6