Some things to consider: If it's on an east windowsill, (it's almost a given) it's not getting enough light, and it might be too cold there for the plant. (Your user info doesn't tell us where you live - you might wish to fix that. It makes it easier for others to help.) Soil temps should be above 60* always. They will tolerate lower soil temps for a while, but they prefer soil temps in the 65-75* range. If you're trying to water once each day, it's very likely that you're over-watering. In most cases I've seen, the bonsai soil sold at bonsai shops & even by bonsai clubs is finer than ideal. The reason is two-fold. They are trying to make a profit, so screening the fines out of the material is both an extra step (time is money) and they would lose a considerable fraction of the products they are using to make the soil (which they had to pay for) if they screened out the inappropriately-sized particles. I didn't say that to disparage the soils, I said it to impress upon you that you need to be very careful about how you water bonsai. Because of the shallow pots, ANY perched water table (PWT) is a large fraction of the soil, and PWTs kill roots. E.g., if you are growing in a pot that is 3" deep, and in a soil that supports a 1 - 1-1/2" PWT. 1/3 to 1/2 of your soil remains saturated after you water. This is decidedly bad for your roots, and may be why your tree is suffering. Water AS NEEDED. Use a sharp dowel & stick it in the soil all the way to the bottom of the pot. Don't water until it comes out clean and dry. After you water, tilt the pot steeply toward a drain hole - it will cause MUCH more water to drain from the soil. Try it. Water, making sure you flush the soil, & wait for the pot to stop draining. Then, tip the pot so a drain hole is down, and watch how much more water exits the pot. Also, use a wick to help with drainage - you can also use the wick as a 'tell', to let you know when it's time to water. You can read more about tips on how to deal with excess water retention by following the embedded link. Have you been flushing the soil regularly? Where do you live? Are you fertilizing - with what - what strength? Al

Trima, Go outside with a pointed shovel and dig a little around the roots about a foot or two around the branch that is browning. See how moist the soil is, and if there is anything in the soil that doesn't look right. How close is that climbing rose anyway? See if the roses roots are sneaking over to your wax mytle tree in that area. you wo't hurt the plants by digging a little bit, jsut not too deep. i have a feeling something is going on with the rose and the mytle and the watering situation. have you fertilized the rose bush this fall? Wax myrtles really don't like a lot of nitrgen at all, they burn easy. Just a thought.

I disagree with the statement: "...since a native plant, poses no issues with invasive seeding such as both Portuguese and English laurel are prone to do." We planted several Pacific Wax Myrtles in a native garden many years ago and now have wax myrtle seedling popping up every where. So they can become a problem in other peoples flower beds. Both of the evergreen cherries are shade tolerant, the English more so than the Portuguese, so they are problems in wood lots that the wax myrtle wouldn't be. I like wax myrtle more so than the two evergreen cherries because it is native and has smaller leaves. But it has its problems. The wood is brittle breaking under heavy snow loads and with Vancouver B.C being at the mouth of the Frazier River with Artic flows coming down that valley, you get lot more snow than on Vancouver Island. The fall/winter of '10/11 caused a lot of damage to our myrtle with leaf kills, even whole stems, and the snow flattened the bushes. That spring we had to go in an remove all the broken and dead branches. Something that doesn't happen with the two cherries. Portuguese Cherry doesn't get as big as the English Cherry. Its leaves are not that much bigger than the myrtle's. I also noticed that it doesn't have any where near the invasive seedlings that the English cherry has. It might also be found at local nurseries more so than myrtle.

Spare the pruning this first year. You want the plant to develop a sound root system before you begin to "shape" the plant. The more leaves, the more photosynthesis, the more food to produce roots. Oh, don't fertilize this year but do keep the soil moist.