Dear Lucy: Can't tell you how much I appreciate your interest with these questions. Yes, prune in late fall/early winter. In NYC that can be difficult to determine, because temp's. can be very warmish until the beginning of January, and then they can suddenly take a nose dive until March. Your instructions imply that pruning is OK after trees go into dormancy, .... correct? Size of tree will roughly be, give or take a few inches, almost the same size as the basic framework of the tree after the initial trunk-chop, and bending up one of the side branches to form a new, narrower "trunk" section, and some new "branches" to fill out the basic design. This will be trained in the "BUNJIN/LITERATI" style, so, the basic framework will be very stark, and will only consist of the main trunk: 28" high, then, one of the existing major side branches will be trained to form a continuation of the trunkline, and then, a new apex and some side branches. I plan on planting this tree into a large tub, or a training bed so that the tree could recover from the major surgery/wiring quickly, and to ultimately put out some new branch growth to fill out the existing branches. I don't want, or need, branches to sprout out from, or along the tall, branchless, trunk bottom. This section of the tree will remain branchless for this design, however, I do want to encourage new growth on the already existing branches, and needle bundles. The only major pruning this tree will get, is really, the trunk-chop. The rest of the "tree" is basically there, ... it just has to be wired, bent, and trained into the "Bunjin" style. The main reason I picked out this tree, is that, most of what I will be training has already grown. I'll have a tall, tapering trunk, secondary trunk, and, major branches, to complete the basic design of the final tree. Sort of an "instant" bonsai. I'm 58 years old, so, I need most things to be "instant"!!! The mechanics of how to form this tree were not my problem, but WHEN to do the major work was not clear to me. Wish I could show you some photos, and/or sketches of this tree, and the design that I had in mind, but, sorry to admit, I'm not at all, computer "savy". Perhaps, if, and when, I work on this tree, I might be able to post some before and after pictures ... with the help of my friends. Thanks again for all your interest, and for your helpful suggestions. Cordially yours, Frank DV

Other than removing the branches where they attach to the trunk that are touching your house, there's really no other trimming you can do without absolutely destroying the tree and any beauty they have. Some might think removing those branches will also destroy the beauty of these trees, but you could remove some or all of the other lower branches to balance out the look of the trees. So, I kind of agree with Dave, either remove the trees, or remove the branches touching the house and possibly others at the same level to balance things out. Their is no trimming that can be done realistically to control the height of your trees without mutilating them in a manner in which they will never recover from or look good again.

To say no cedar can live in z5 or 4 is silly. My parents have a big old cedar in their zone 4.9 garden. It isn't an atlas cedar, but it is a cedar (not a thuja, arborvitae, or anything else mistakenly called cedar either, this is a cedrus, but I don't know the variety). It was there when they built their house 30 years ago, out in the woods. Anyways, a nursery here in lower michigan (solid z5) has a few weeping atlas cedars for sale. I want one so bad. They say they overwintered them here with protection... I need to find out what type of protection. I figure I can give it a southern exposure, and make a big coldframe thing out of rigid house insulation to run out and cover it with when it gets really cold (like a giant rose cover). An upright atlas cedar you couldn't do that with, but a weeping atlas cedar... it should be possible.

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