Hi all!

I'm new here and never really met someone that shared my interest to discuss bonsai projects, so I'm looking forward to geting some feedback and some help!

I planted this tree (technically a shrub - don't know the name in english, sorry!) as a tiny shoot about 5-7 years ago, made a lot of noob mistakes along the way but now I have some aspects I like and some I don't. Root spread is great with some good surface roots forming (some are still hidden), and I like the tapper up to about 1/3 of the tree and the position of the first 2 lateral branchs.

Firstly, I'm not going to do anything else to the tree this year, I pruned the roots last year and, as you can see, I pruned the top quite hard about a week ago, so I don't want to stress it anymore this year. But this is a great time to see the main structure so here it goes.




I think I need a lateral branch on the right side (would be the third branch) to get a nice even spread and maybe even get some extra tapper on the mid section that is very straight. On the other hand, I'm thinking about just cutting the main trunk just above the second lateral branch and start over from there giving the tree a more acentuated tapper.

What do you think? Am I being anal about this? Think I can correct the tapper with a new shoot on the right side and a some years of free growth? (this type of shrub backbuds very easily, so I'm hopefull I can get a shoot around the righ spot still this year because of the hard prunning) Do you have any other suggestion?

I have a lot other bonsai wannabe, yet none even on a bonsai pot yet, but I'll share some later to get your feedback!

This seems like a privet, ligustrum spp.

The base is not bad. For now, I would let it grow. Get side-branches. Sort through those to avoid having multiple branched on each place. Later in summer, consider a light wiring.