I wrap my little lilacs, that are the same size as your plants, in Jobes tree wrap, and then I close-pin burlap around each one, tightly. Neither voles, nor rabbits have gotten through. And hopefully neither will turkeys. :/ I really like what you've done. It's impressive. I wish I was handy like you and could do something like that.

Pls show is a pic, we can't tell what's going one w/out one. Don't know what you've been reading, but this is baloney: "I've read not to use a stake to correct it due to the plant's sensitivity" Nonsense, sensitivity to what? The only things Jades are sensitive to are bad soils & overwatering. Leaning tends to be towards the sun for more.

I have some in lilacs and hydrangeas. This year I’m going to try rhododendrons and a snow berry bush. I’ve never been a huge fan of snow berries but the kids brought one home from school back in the day so he’s part of the family, for better or worse. Fingers crossed triternata rubromarginata (sp) makes him a little more interesting

The tape is to keep the cat away?The lean is no problem. You can correct that when you repot, which won't be quite the chore you think it will be. You can prune and repot at the same time. Pruning on most (by a wide margin) tropical trees should be done in mid to late June (in northern hemisphere) when trees have high levels of energy and their ability to make energy from the sun's light is peaking (Jun 21 in the N hemisphere). Your tree already has a sort of lazy-s trunk, which would be called an 'informal' upright in bonsai. Personally, I think the trunk is much more interesting and natural than trees with ramrod straight trunks. The lean can be corrected simply by changing the planting angle when you repot; or, by pruning the top back to a leaf pointing in the right direction, which would be back toward an imaginary line extending vertically from the point where the trunk exits the soil. This is a Ficus retusa cutting I started in a pill bottle. Your tree has exactly the same growth habit. If I want the top of the tree to grow to the right, I do nothing, because the top leaf and the new branch forming in the leaf axil (crotch) will naturally grow in the direction of the leaf. Keep in mind that phototropism (plants' tendency to grow toward the light) will trump that response. If I want the top of the new tree created to grow left, I simply remove the top leaf by cutting through the trunk just above the leaf growing left. This is called directional pruning. A third way you can change the direction of a branch is by guiding it mechanically. You can tie a strip rag or soft rope to a branch and move it into a new position.The arrangement above is moving the right branch even more to the right with a piece of metal bar. Then, by gradually tightening the wire, the middle branch will be pulled to the right so it's almost centered between the other 2 branches. You could also use a piece of coated copper wire wrapped around the new branch to guide it. This is a cherry branch ^^^ I just cut to show you how easy it is to bend with wire. Repotting is important. If you can't handle the tree now, what will you do after you've potted up another time or two? Root congestion is a slow killer and robs your tree of huge amounts of potential, & the amount of potential stolen increases until there is no potential left. You can easily reduce the pot size and soil volume by half if you repot, so there is nothing but upside associated with it. Prune all branches back so only the 2 leaves closest to the trunk remain, then prune the top back to a leaf pointing in the right direction. It should be about a foot taller than the branch on the right after that branch has been pruned. I just noticed you live in SoCal. You can do the pruning now if you decide to follow my suggestions, and repot any time in June. BTW - this tree shouldn't go in the ground unless you correct the root issues first. There is no question it will be a problem tree if planted out without rootwork. I bare-root and correct root issues of every tree/shrub I plant. I've seen hundreds of trees that don't grow once in the ground or have large sections of dead branches on one side because the owner dropped a rootball in a hole, covered it with soil, and called it good. Al