Strictly speaking bonsai is a Japanese term for a tree in a pot. You have a tree in a pot which is bonsai.
I subscribe to the snobbery that the caliper of a real bonsai is something like 1/12th its height, more or less. So, I think a one foot tall bonsai should have a trunk caliper of about 1 inch. Then. I also think the trunk should taper on that scale. Your tree is not a bonsai in my book.
On the other hand, we have a form called 'literati' or 'bunjin' whose whole point is a fascinating, thin trunk line. The trunk you have is not all that interesting, so it doesn't qualify for my artsy snobbery in that way either.
I've got 6 different species of maple,
rubrum. palmatum, shirasawanum,
circinatum,
platanoides, and
macrophyllum. One
thing they all have in common is that their leaf sizes reduce by an incredible amount if one keeps them small, like under 4 inches. But even when they are larger than that, their leaves can be made smaller, and they are fascinating bonsai subjects. All can be defoliated to produce a smaller set of leaves for the second half of the growing season, pretty much without regard for size of the tree.
Therefore, the question is,
@bayboat, what amuses you? You've grown a tree in a pot, what is next? Do you want to see what you can make of it? That is the sort of thing that interests me and step 1 is figuring out how it works, or more specifically, how do I get it to make leaves and stems down the stem.
Defoliation is very bonsai, don't you think? Maybe take your scissors and cut through the petioles (that thin little stem holding the leaf to the branch/trunk) to remove every leaf. Also cut off the tip of every little branch/branchlet as keeping it in place tends to keep new leaves from appearing below it. Within a few weeks, you'll see some new leaves popping out of the buds at the bases of the petioles remaining from when you cut off this season's original leaves. By the end of the summer you will see that the leaves are still smaller than those your tree started with (fascinating, huh?).
But, in the meantime you may have seen some little reddish bumps below where there were any leaves. These are what bonsai enthusiasts refer to as 'back buds'. If you got any, each may produce a new shoot. Next spring, you'll notice that there are buds near the end of a branch and another pair a bit lower and maybe even another pair that are not so big below those. You can cut back to these visible buds and then have some more pairs appear below that. And again you can cut back to those smallest visible buds before the buds break, producing new stems with new leaves, so you then have a much shorter tree. It is maybe much more exciting to do a 'trunk chop' than to chase the buds down, but it risks being too much for the tree or you having accidentally removed the last node of the maple and it is history.
Anyway,
@bayboat, you've grown a tree in a pot.
Now what interests you?
What do you want to make of it?
OR what do you want to learn about trees from it?
Knowledge is priceless, IMHO.
