We’ve only had this house since 2012, so we’ve seen two full winters here. We have two lovely Blue Atlas Cedars – one a tall, wispy tree in the front yard and one a small, weeping variety in the back. I was alarmed last year when many of the needles were brown at the end of winter, suffering winter burn, but they both recovered just fine as spring brought new growth. The brown needles fall off, and new ones grow to replace them. The branches closest to the ground stay more green — I wonder why?
Anyway, if you’re looking at one of these and worrying about whether winter killed it, it’s probably fine. Give it a nice deep watering now, and it will probably start new growth and perk up over the next month. Let us know in the comments if that doesn’t happen for you!
It’s July now, and I’ve observed that the tall cedar has suffered some. It’s come back to green and dropped the dead needles, but many of the small branches have tips that died back. I hope next winter is easier on it!
As a followup, both Blue Atlas cedars are recovering well from their winter burn. The small one in the backyard is a little more vigorous, but both are pushing out new green clusters of needles, and the brown ones are falling off.
What zone are you in?