Suzie, I am in Calif. zone 9 also. I think alot has to do with our crazy weather this summer. We started out very cool and that continued into mid June and then it real hot and it has been up and down like this all summer. Mine haven't done near as well as they usually do either.

Patricia

Patricia, we have been down on temps, not many days above normal except for right now. I thought they would do better since its been high 80s & lower 90s most of the summer instead of 100+. Hopefully next year they will do better.
suz

Santa Rosa grows like the wind, so I'd have to agree with the others that it's most likely some crazy weather. I put a 16 inch rooted cutting in ground in April, and it's already 8 feet tall. I don't know about Cherub, don't grow this cultivar-yet :)

All my cuttings have been slow growing this year with most of the growth coming during this past month. They have gotten lush leaves but are all very short.

{{gwi:537715}}

The two tall ones, about 6', were in pots and about 5' tall last year and kept dormant in the basement last winter without being cut back though there was some minor die back on the stems.

Most of the others are cuttings that I rooted last winter or small rooted cuttings that I received last fall. Today they range 2-3 feet tall.

The variegated one I brought back from TX last winter and is about the same size as then and is now filling out.

I'm sure they would have been taller if I had fertilized more often.

Oy that is so lovely. Even if you didn't get super growth this year, it's beautiful. :) I am already anticipating next year. This year I had to do a total burn down of the lawn. So nearly nothing was planted in any flower beds. LoL I've oogled every one elses lovely plants and just can't wait till next year when I can actually plant things safely! Soon the new lawn goes in, next spring can't come soon enough!

~Tina

mnwsgal, mine look like all you short ones in the middle. Healthy, but short. All of mine have been fertilized weekly.
suz