change in season

I just brought home a garden juniper from my local garden center. For context, I live in hardiness zone 4b (according to both Canadian and USDA hardiness methods). I've asked in a few different forums and researched my own but I'm getting conflicting answers on whether or not I can prune away...

So back in August I got my first bonsai, the Fukein tea tree (ehretia mircophylla).Anyhow after reading hours of content and watching 3 start up videos in a row, I was ready for the transplant. My pot has to weep holes in the bottom about the size of a nickel, so I covered them with plastic...