I have been worried about the cedar.  The aluminum wire from Michael’s that I used to wire it into the post wasn’t sturdy enough to hold it in firmly when there was a severe windstorm last Fall.  But, I was afraid to mess with it much because the roots had already been cut and replanted twice.  I was concerned that the roots were too traumatized to tolerate me fiddling with them, then.

It hasn’t looked particularly healthy this winter.  I just kept hoping it wasn’t dead and losing its green very slowly. And trying to remember what it looked like in previous winters.

After the workshop in February and some continuous warm days, I decided to get in there and see what was going on.  There were healthy roots.  (Yay!)

So, I hacked them.  I trimmed them up.  I worked on the taproot with my new knob cutter so I could seat it better. And I wired it in with copper wire I had picked up from Lowe’s.  It was the smallest gauge they had at 10mm, iirc, and still a little bigger than I would have liked.  It was hard to bend it.  But, that tree isn’t going anywhere unless the whole pot does.

It does have a little bit of a lean.  I expect I’ll address that with wire, later.

I noticed that it has developed cedar rust, too.  Fortunately, Chuck already has some organic fungicide and I’m going to get it tended to tomorrow.

The Japanese maples are leafing out nicely.

And the juniper is doing beautifully.  I’ll give it another month before I look at it for shaping.