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Hi everyone! I'm new to the world of bonsai, so thank you in advance for your advice and knowledge. I live outside of New York (zone 7). I preferably want to start practicing on a nursery juniper, but I looked in my own backyard and have some specimens that I've read can make good bonsai as well:

1) Ligustrum ovalifolium and sinense- Two new plants have sprouted in-ground over the past year. Both are about 1 ft tall, look healthy, and have not branched out yet. I am thinking of putting these in 1 quart regular plant pots for the year in all-purpose bonsai soil to root out and grow more. Is this a good start? When should I start to think about training?

2) Japanese Maples- I have several deshojos in my backyard, and some seedlings have wildly sprouted in-ground. I put these in a small regular pot with bonsai soil to grow over the next few years, placing them in their own pots next year. Thinking about pruning my deshojos and starting some cuttings as well. Should these cuttings go into regular all-purpose bonsai soil as well?

3) Creeping Juniper, Deodar Cedar, Hinoki Cedar, Picea abies, and Thuja- I have these in my yard as well, which of these usually make the most successful cuttings? Is it too early in the year for conifer cuttings?

4) Instead of heading to the nursery, I also was thinking of taking a 3-4 year old japanese spindle tree growing in my yard, planting in a training pot, and start training it as a bonsai. It is a healthy specimen and is about 2.5ft tall with several healthy branches. I've done a bit of beginner research into bonsai and hadn't seen anything about japanese spindle tree, so I was wondering if it potentially could make a good bonsai? If it could, when and how should I be thinking about training it?

5) Should cuttings be planted in bonsai pots right away? Or are normal flower pots okay for the first few years until roots have grown out? Any tips on successful cutting? I know that cuttings will take several years at the minimum until I can think about training, but as a recent college grad I have many more years to learn and absorb knowledge.

Any advice on any of my questions would be super helpful! Thank you again!

Are you sure it is ligusturum sinense? That species cannot take much frost. Should not survive in your zone.

Here is a photo of it. I have many ligustrum ovalifolium hedges and this didn’t look as similar, so I researched some and it looked to me like Chinese privet, but I may be wrong.