Winter Damage

My variegated dwarf Deodar cedar is a fairly large bonsai currently living in a deep plastic training pot.  When I bought it from Osuna Nursery 6 years ago, it was in a 25 gallon black nursery pot.  I transplanted it into one of Caro's red cone-shaped pots straight away and it's lived there ever since.  

Last February during the bonsai clubs repotting workshop, I whacked its roots down considerably and moved it into the training pot.  The result was reasonably attractive and I pretty much left the tree to grow unmolested all season.

Because of its size and weight, I leave this guy outside over winter and only cover it with a tarp on the coldest of nights.  Unfortunately, last fall we had a hard freeze on Oct. 28th before anything had adapted for the winter.  Temperatures had been in the 40's at night until then.  

Seeing the forecast, I moved a lot of the smaller material into the garage, but the big juniper and the cedar were just covered with a blue plastic tarp.  Where the branches touched the tarp at the top, where it was coldest and least protected, the tree took damage that has become apparent now that it's spring.  

Here's the tree showing the brown needles on the upper canopy.  It's not a serious problem, because the damage is on last summer's growth that was let go uncontrolled after the big repotting effort.  These branches were going to get trimmed one way or another.  

And here's a close-up of the crown from above.  

And here's a detail of the damage. 

By comparison, here's a close-up view of healthy foliage lower on the tree. 

So last Friday after getting Paddy back from the vet, with Daylight Saving Time giving me extra light, fortified with a glass of wine, I set to work dealing with the problem.  The result was a bucket of clippings.  

The result is a much tidier tree.  Here's the final product.  I'll be fine tuning it some more in the weeks ahead.  As vigorous as it is growing, I may be able to transplant into a mica pot next fall or in the spring of 2022.