expect to wait a little longer .. to find out... you dont mention where you are ... other than zone.. and 6 is awful big ... i am glad you looked at the buds.. but w/o a pic.. i dont know how to interpret your words ... has anything else ... broken dormancy??? ,... flowering shrubs.. conifers.. etc ... are you suggesting its late compared to other things.. or are you just worrying early???? about 50% of my collection if showing winter damage.. all buds are fine ... but i lost BAC years ago.. here in MI z5 ..... so i cant look at mine.. to compare with your words .... have faith ... pix??? ken

you can do whatever you want with your tree.. its yours ... who cares what we think ... i am of the conifer school that works on the premise that the weirder the better ... others belong to the school that all conifers must look like xmas trees ... make your choice of which school you belong to ... and be happy ... conifers.. left to there own devices.. will grow in a shape wherein they develop a structure to support themselves.... when we .. or the original grower started 'training' this weirdo into an unnatural shape ... he/we are potentially creating structural issues ... do what you want.. with an eye towards creating a stable tree... and you will be all set ... so stake it for training.. and for stability .... nothing worse.. than 5 or 10 or 20 years down the line.. the thing collapses in a storm or something.. because you made it so weird ... IN MY WORLD .... i would get a lot of joy out the process ... and if it made my toes curl every time i walked by it.. then i really dont care what happens in 5 or 10 or 20 years .... my happiness is worth whatever comes of it.. and if it fails.... i will gt to try again.. or try something else ... i look at it this way ... if i spend 200 bucks on tree ... and it lives 20 years.. will it be worth 10 bucks a year ... the price of one crumby meal.. for the excitement of walking out there everyday ... i say yes .... if it only lasts 10 ... costing me 20 bucks.. or one decent meal ... etc ... its your tree ... have fun with it ... go to google.. type in the name.. find the latin name.. paste it back.. and then go to google images.. and you will see probably hundreds of pix of this very common plant ... and see where it is going over the years.. and what you can do with it .. the sky is the limit... good luck a little zen ken today.. lol

Could also be winter kill, if you had a colder-than-usual winter last winter. Death of the bark due to severe cold can take a surprisingly long time to manifest itself in the foliage dying off. Atlas Cedar is not 100% hardy in zone 7. Resin

Canyon- Thanks for the input. What you don't see is a small tree that's probably 40 feet straight ahead of that window. Not sure what it is, it has purple leaves in the summer and right now has beautiful pink flowers. Unfortunately, they only last about a week each spring! In the summer, you can only see that bay window from one direction. My thought process was to have this weep out and over the bed and a part of the lawn area. Walking up my path to the front steps, this will be on full display behind the crimson queen maple on the corner that turns a fantastic bright red in season. I thought the contrast of that with the golden mops and WBAC and Colorado Blue Spruce on the end would make a nice array of color contrast. That bay window is a solid 8 or 9 feet from the ground at the midpoint. It's about 2.5 feet out from the bay window also (And 4 feet from the foundation.) Unless I'm totally missing something (which very well could be the case!) I don't think it will ever block much, if any sunlight or the view, unless I just let it grow straight up without training it outward. Again, trying to learn as I go here. I actually did the entire other side of my house about 4 years ago and that's really starting to fill in nicely. I'm not one to just plant something and walk away. I carefully prune everything (including a cool topiary on the far left that you can just make out in the first photo) at least 3 times a year. That one keeps my on my toes as the Pom's can get out of control pretty quickly during growth periods. Sara - Wow! I saw your 2 WBAC's in the archway in background of that one photo.. absolutely stunning! And Thank you for the tips on pruning, I will absolutely look further into them, much appreciated! I really truly do appreciate all the insights from everyone.. thanks again! Keep em' coming!!!