AusBonsai

In 2018 I was boasting, bragging etc about what I had dug during the year. One of the posts was about this maple and it was a tree I thought would be interesting because it was unusual, distinct, not your usual trident. I believe Mother Nature was teaching me a lesson in not being boastful because after digging in August, September saw no leaves, October no leaves either. Come November still no leaves and I was thinking of sending it to the firewood pile. BUT, just after Christmas there was a little green and after that the leaves started to pop. I must say I am relieved and hopeful that it continues on its way.
Here is the photographic evidence.
There is a famous saying in bonsai cycles "one more spring" but this one just needed a summer.

Great to see it live; i think i would have written it off too if it were me so i applaud you giving it a little longer just to see. I guess it's a matter of just leave it alone and let it recover energy now before you do too much more with it?

I too have had a plant based humbling experience this year. I was feeling like i had air layering of maples down a fine art after the last couple of years of successes, but i was taught a stern lesson with several failures on what i had mentally 'taken to the bank' as certain successes. One of those that had rooted acceptably took a nose dive after the 42 degrees of Friday despite full protection under shade cloth and out of the wind. Fortunately it wasn't one of my varieties i'm desperately attached to, but it put me back in check again and i probably needed the lesson in hindsight.

Cool looking tree watto.
be interested to see this develop as it has nice taper as well.
Was it cut back with bonsai in mind whil in the ground?

Ken

Surprised to see a trident so slow to shoot after digging. Very rare in my experience but not unknown. I wonder what caused that.
I have had a number of other trees sulk for some time after a severe transplant but finally come good when I had almost written them off.
There's an olive that we dug nearly 2 years ago - no new shoots, just held a few of the old leaves until late this spring - now covered in good healthy new shoots.

Retrospect is a good teacher and now I could have, should have would have cut off all the branches that I left on the tree, because those branches will need to come off anyway - I was just lazy thinking its a trident and they shoot no matter what. Valuable lesson learnt.
This tree was only "trimmed" by the hedge cutter and never for bonsai purposes, but it is going to be trimmed for bonsai from now on.