Hello I’m new to all of this. I have been researching how to begin and have a basic idea of how to start. I got a Japanese maple today from Home Depot. Will this work? It’s pretty big and I’m not sure if I got the wrong tree or not. It’s 48” tall from the soil. I will post a picture to go with. Thanks for the help guys.

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In general maples work well. As we do not do home depot I do not know what species / style they carry. I suspect some sawing will be needed.

Home Depot is a combination hardware, building supplies, gardening chain store. The Japanese maples there will be basic trees suitable for the yard, but will probably be too tall to turn into a bonsai immediately.
I go to the local one pretty often and usually take a turn through the tree section just looking. Sometimes there is a tree with some interest.

The problem with Japanese maples i”d get at a generic store selling plants (or even at a normal nursery) is that they’re all, inevitably, root grafted.
So turning them into bonsai requires both airlayering and regrowing.

Not sure I’d suggest it to a novice, tbh, unless some established horticultural knowledge is already there...

Again, a picture would help greatly