I've been clearing some land at my house and chopped down some wild privets (Ligustrum sinense). After a few weeks, however, these stumps sent out new shoots. So, I went through the stumps and selected the best few to collect. I collected the tree in my profile picture which is a privet from that clearing. Privets are highly invasive in my area and there is not a square mile in the state without one, literally.

Hopefully you will get some nice trees out of something that was intended for the rubbish pile!
Chinese privet can make fairly nice trees and they are an 'easy' species to look after as they tolerate both frost and fairly warm temperatures, making them especially good for a beginner.
Could we possibly see some more photos of your trees?

I'll try to put a picture of the bigger one, but it needs some carving work.

please show a picture, before the "carving", then we can see what your up to. imho, wait for spring

Samantha wrote:

please show a picture, before the "carving", then we can see what your up to. imho, wait for spring

Why ?

It's not a very good picture, but this is the larger one.

Nice trunk, but indeed, a lot of work to be done. I would repot it in a more suitable substrate, personallly.