You can do some heading-back cuts on juniper more or less indefinitely if you like. I'd also remove any and all dead twigs and branches, as this simple procedure will do much to immediately improve appearances.

+oM

i dont see where its blue ...

i might bet on a bird sown Juniperus virginiana ....

cut it to the ground.. its dead ... apply stump killer if you want to make sure ...

if you need a conifer there .... replant a foot or two over ... where you can dig a hole ..

there is a big difference between what you can do.. and what you should do ...

if you insist.. do whatever you want... but dont expect it to look like much for many.. many many... years .... conifers just dont grow that fast ..... if in fact. you can keep the deer away ... which btw.. will eat anything.. if they are hungry enough ..

its just not worth the effort.. in my estimate ...

ken

oh .... if i was going to clean it up by pruning... i would simply take off all the stuff down low ... cut properly to the trunk ... and let it be the tree it is ...

rather than trying to force it back down ...

i would not give it a haircut of the tips ....

ken

BTW .. to be clear.. thats what i would do.. based on tryi9ng before ...

its yours.. in your garden.. do whatever you want .... experimenting is how i learned most of what i know ...

my opinion ... is the last straw ... so if it doesnt respond .... just be done with it ...

and if you try .. dont expect any kind of fast response ... conifers dont do much fast ...

ken

As is my custom in such threads, I answered the question that was posed. What a concept!

+om

The tree is by no means dead and actually has more foliage on the lower area than shows up in the photo. So I will do as wisconsintom suggests and shear the sides and clip the top and prepare to keep it the current size by regular pruning. If you are correct about the id ken (and I have no doubt you are) it is potentially mammoth. I'm glad I caught it in time to have a chance to keep it in pruning height. I have removed many trees shrubs and miles of vines in my two years into thus project. I like to give everything a chance to prove it can contribute something to the scene! I guess it's my history with NYC parks under Henry Stern in the city's nadir. Henry forbid any tree to be cut down. With no money to replace them he did keep the city green. Also influenced by Japanese gardens which so often find beauty in the odd or misshapen.

Kit. while you said "shear", I would advocate only touching this thing with hand pruners. Don't think of what you are doing as "shaping", but more as just gently heading back wayward stuff, one cut at a time. I hope I'm being clear about this-Junipers can be "kept in-bounds" more or less indefinitely via heading-back cuts. And while that's likely not something I'd do with an upright plant like this, you have indicated interest in doing so, thus my advice is geared towards what you've asked, not a full-blown treatise on care of upright junipers.

Junipers are among a fairly small group of conifers which can and do develop adventitious buds all along their stems. thus, it is hard to really make a mistake in pruning. Nevertheless, a lighter touch is probably best, just a nip here and a nip there.

+oM

I understood what you meant by hand pruning. I too would prefer to let it assume its natural height, but will I be able to do that without having to continue to prune with 50' ladders? That is, once lightly "shaped" will it maintain that general shape?

Unless you can keep the deer away, they will shape what they can reach. My neighbor has two electric wires, one high one low, to keep the deer from eating his long row of Arborvitae. Thuja occidentalis 'Emerald'.

I see merit in turning it into a tree with a visible trunk instead of a deer pruned bush.

Mike

To be clear, I prefer the "natural", unimproved, lol version of almost every conifer, indeed, almost every tree. But you were asking about if it was okay to do some light tip pruning and I said yes it is. That's not to say the plant "needs" it, or that you should be doing this, just that you can. You're right, as the plant grows, all such operations become difficult at best, dangerous at worst. Proceed with caution.

+om