thuja occidentalis teddy questions

Hello all. First post to the site.

I came across an overgrown, neglected, gnarled thuja o. teddy the other week. Got it from a nursery I frequent far too often for next to nothing. The teddy has juvenile foliage for its entire life. It's typically a smaller, globe shaped thuja o.

[img][/img]
Shorter plant, center of image


Portion of the trunk I plan on retaining... There are several different leaders aside from the ones shown.

I've read on here that the thuja o.s are susceptible to root rot and might not necessarily respond too well to manage root work. I wanted to see if anyone with experience, preferably with the teddy specifically, but if not at least with thuja occidentalis'. The main questions I have are how well do they respond to minor and major pruning/trimming, root reduction and also how well do they backbud? I'm looking forward to getting in there late winter/early spring and doing a little work on her.

On the second/detail picture foliage looks like Taxus not Thuya to me?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuja_occidentalis

Definitely these are not thuja's scale foliage with flat branchelets pattern.

It's supposedly a dwarf arborvitae... A hybrid of sorts that only puts out juvenile foliage for the entirety of its life. I'm nearly positive it's not a yew, yamasuri.

Ok, just never seen foliage like that on Thuya

yamasuri wrote:Ok, just never seen foliage like that on Thuya

Nor I... That's why I posted on here, trying to figure out if the plant will respond to wiring, pruning, etc like a typical thuja before I do something that both teddy and I will regret!

I wouldn't worry much about wiring. Just observe tightness and don't let wire cut to bark.Bigger branches support with wrap [raffia]. As pruning I would follow evergreen general rules and watch how plant will react.