Good question. My Cedrus Deodara 'Gold Cone' is beginning to outgrow it's location this year. It's been in the ground 4 years and it's now over my head. It was about a 1 ft tall when I planted it. I may either remove it next year and plant it somewhere else or keep the width smaller by pruning.

The first photo is in the spring. The Second is after it grew.

Hi Sara, what I find attractive about the C.D. 'Aurea' are its weeping cream color tips, so I'm concerned I would lose those keeping a twice or thrice annual pruning regiment. But the work I have no problem with. Some go to the gym, walk, run, etc., I get my exercise mucking about in the yard.

No you will get cream tips as it pushes after your pruning. I can't think of a better genus to practice on. Cedars is incredibly forgiving, especially deodara.

I planted a Deodara with the idea I was going to move it 'later'. Well, that never happened and before I knew it, it was too large for me to transplant. So I did the next best thing. I pruned off all the large spreading branches except near the top and left the small ones. Eventually it may have to go. It's looking out of place already. The upper branches are almost out of reach. I will have to climb a 12 ft ladder with a pole saw to be able to cut the lower large branches now.

Yeah, geez Mike, that looks awful. I wish I could get a little bit of awfulness going here. :)

I also have a gold tinged (seedling?) Cedrus deodara that is naturally thinned.....by ice and wet snow. It's far from a perfect specimen, but I like it this way. Adds character to the garden! ;-) It has lost a lot of branches over the years, including the top several times, and is not done yet.

I've estimated heights of specific 'Aurea' in the P.N.W. to be 85 ft. or more. Otherwise the 2006 edition of Arthur Lee Jacobson's book Trees of Seattle lists heights of examples there measured with a laser, most of them probably during 2004-5, as being 73 ft., 69 ft., 51 ft. and 50 ft. This selection is not a dwarf, differs primarily from typical in being partly yellow. Other yellow cultivars should be chosen for non palatial situations, unless diligent and continued pruning to control size is going to be undertaken.