Sad Cedar

We have a decent-sized eastern red cedar in our front yard.  It holds down an island bed and is beloved by the neighborhood birds.  Each fall, a flock of cedar waxwings clears it of its many berries in one to two days.  Their cricket-like chirps are really loud when they are massed together and their acrobatics are fun to watch as they hang upside-down to get every last blue berry.  I've seen mice, cardinals and chickadees in its branches. 

I wouldn't have planted it myself, though, if I was the original homeowner.  And I suspect the original homeowner didn't plant it either.  The arborist told me that cedars take a long time to grow and that this one has some years on it.

Eastern red cedars are on the Wisconsin DNR's invasive plant list as they can form groves in open fields and prairies.  They are suspectible to fire as they contain a lot of resin.  And they are a host for Apple-Cedar Rust.  In fact, when we first moved in, I noticed a highly rust-susceptible crabapple was planted right next to the cedar.  I searched the cedar for signs of rust and sure enough, there were dried rusty orange pods throughout its branches.  Our arborist told us the crabapple was a cultivar notorious for its many diseases so we took it down instead of the cedar.  (Which was too bad since it had such pretty pink flowers in the spring.)  Finally, one of its most annoying traits is its brittle branches.  Snow has no problem snapping off even large limbs.

I couldn't get a good shot of the
gap from the crushed branch

We took off some lower branches so average-height and short people could walk to the front door along our sidewalk without getting smacked in the head.  Those taller folks still might get a mouthful of foliage if they aren't careful. 

I figured that there wouldn't be any more issues with this tree but I was wrong.  This past winter, wet snow crushed one of its bigger branches.  It's located mid-way up the trunk so taking it out will leave a large ugly gap.   The branch is still alive despite a good mashing so I hesitate to go that route.  I haven't got a quote from our arborist yet on having it anchored.  What do you think I should do? 

You can see how completely the big branch
was crushed and yet it is just as green as its neighbors