This photo is from a garden forum I follow. Everyone seems to agree it is a lack of water, such is killing countless Thuja plicata along the mid-east coast of Vancouver Island. I don't think so. The tree is described as a 'midget cedar', whatever that means and, from what I understand, is receiving regular watering. Here is a picture of the entire tree. The more I look at it, I wonder if it isn't getting too much sun.
It's a dwarf cultivar of a Thuja, but looks more like a cultivar of Thuja occidentalis than of Thuja plicata. Possibly mite damage? Look for webbing on the undersides of the shoots with tiny red spider-mites.
