Trying to come up with a plan for this one

I picked this tree up from lowes a few weeks ago because it had the best trunk of any of the trees there. Its got a nice flare at the base and the bark has a pretty good character. This is a dwarf burning bush (euonymus alatus "compactus') which I've read usually back bud pretty well but can be slow growers.


I'm trying to come up with a plan for this tree but when I get up into the branches I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to procede. As you can see its got two branches coming off at basically the same level. There was another branch just below the bottom two that I removed as it had been damaged very close to the trunk and sent a new leader back through the rest of the tree. I also wired a couple of branches down so they wouldn't get shaded out.








The last two images are what I think have the best potential of being the front. Also the last image has a 6 inch engineers scale with the 1/10 of an inch side pointed up for scale. The trunk gets alot thicker below the soil surface swelling to about 1.5 inches.




Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

You’ll need to cut back heavy to give the trunk any meaning in the final image. Go to Bonsai4me.com as there’s a nice article on Spindle from nursery stock. Hope this helps.

I know it need to be cut back hard to be able to make anything of this. Problem was that when ever I looked at it all I could see was a broom shape that just wasn't doing anything for me. I couldn't seem to shift my focus off of that image so trying to see anything else was becoming difficult. Thats why I asked here, to see if anyone could give me some new ideas to help get this tree set on the right path.

I did post this on another forum and was given a pretty good option on how to chop this back in order to get a decent trunkline for an informal upright.

Drastic, I know, but the "bonsai" is in the base, lower trunk and lower branches (possibly excluding that thick center trunk). I'd kep it in his pot, chop severely and fertilize heavily and take another look in late summer.

I agree with Jim on this tree. Looks very similar to our European Spindle.

Actually Jim's image is very similar to what I kept seeing in the tree. Guess I just didn't trust myself that I could see the best tree.

Also will I think this is very closely related to your european spindle as I think both are in the same genus.

I did get another option off of a different forum that could be a viable option but some of what the tree has going for it. I think I'll probably work towards Jims image for now but try to leave in this other option if possible in case I change my mind later.

Here is the other image I got. The blue lines were the purposed chops and yellow being future branches.

The problem with taking off two of the three bottom branches at this stage is, you cannot predict where new branches will shoot. By chopping back all three, you will have a lot more options.

I certainly would not take out the center trunk AND the left-hand trunk. Center, maybe, left NO!

Ok well I chopped this back in stages working towards Jims drawing and I found a tree I like in it. Basically there was a thicker branch on the center trunk that I kept for the new leader, the left side trunk will get cut back but not removed so that the lower branch on it will be come my first branch. The right side trunk that splits into the V will likely be removed.

The leader will need some bending to get some movement into it, but I think this should give me a pretty decent looking tree in the future while still leaving some of options open.

Thanks for the help guys.