You can cut it back to a stump and it will sprout back quite readly. It is about the most forgiving tree I have ever worked with. Easy to look after, grows quickly, very forgiving of mistakes. Simply because they are extremely difficult to kill. You can trim and cut and root prune and they will bounce back without a problem.
Junipers are hardy, forgiving, keep their color and can be worked on almost any time.
I feel that Elms are the best trees for beginners because the tree responds easily to branch growth and the techniques for obtaining ramification are very straight forward and easy for a beginner to master first off. A very nice looking tree can be achieved over a very short time without much difficulty. Juniper are slow growing and relatively hardy. If a beginner starts out with a deciduous tree and tries to wire the branches, they may find that the branches are marked by the wires because of the growth of the tree. The Chinese Elm has withstood all the punishment I could give it.