I guess your hot summers made it necessary to find your perfect exposure to the sun. But it sounds like not only have you figured it out, but is sounds like you have been able to add to the collection! Congrats!

I have one that is 30+ years old, may be closer to 35 years. and 2 more at least 30 years old, as do my neighbors. I have come to the conclusion that the Poison Ivy spray I used might have harmed it in some way. You know they have many surface roots. Though I was spraying carefully directly on to the leaves of the PI, perhaps some might have found it's way to the CM roots? The tree was behind a fence, about 15 feet to the closest spot I sprayed. I spot some green leaves on it so I am hopeful.

Yes the twilight is doing much better in morning sun. I did notice that crepes are resilient but very sensitive too. The two red one am I have now were from my grandmothers. They were covered in leaf spot mold. I hydrogen peroxide them and cut them way back in November. They are very lush now. Their new shoots are very sensitive too to mold, hot sun and wind if you can believe it. We get high winds here in the spring and winter. The new green shoots break right off in the wind. Morning sun is definitely the way to go here in zone 9. I'll upload some photos soon. Waiting on blooms