Beginner Gardening: Mimosa pruning and shaping, 1 by yeye5

yeye5 wrote:
Thanks. I found gardening by way of fun. I love nurturing all things and patiently the many plants in my environment waited for me to realize how much fun they are...it's really like they planted me...sowed the seeds of gardening inside me and waited for me to blossom. My life led me in a direction where I spend most of my time in and around my home and there is no lack of stimulation here, it's very wooded beautiful and there is some of everything growing.
I do realize I have a green thumb too, or I have had it since I woke up to the wonder of plants. It's funny that I have had more "luck" by allowing rather than forcing the plants to grow and then working with what I get.
Now I definitely have huge fits of impatience. With my mimosa adventure I go out daily and use magnifying glasses to study for new points of growth! (talk about a watch-pot). My goal with the many sweet mimsoa babies is just what you said, to encourage them to grow in such a way that they bloom lower and more spread out. The parent tree (original mimosa here) has some blooms at window level but has outgrown my roof for the most part. The branch that is at window level is amazing to watch as the hummingbirds come to feed right outside the window. That is how I hope these baby trees will shape themselves. That's why I have been pinching back the very top sprout so the trunks will thicken and the trees will mature lower. I hope that makes sense, though I fear it won't :)
I notice on the ones I am doing this with that the place where the leaf/new branch attaches to the trunk has a bulbous thickening as if --because of the pinching back at the top--the leaves are being encouraged to thicken into branches (?) This is all observation and guesswork so please do let me know if I am not making sense or getting things wrong.
I took lots of pictures today of the various sizes (I think the tallest is 2 1/2 feet and the smallest is 1 inch) baby trees I have.
What do you have growing that you are concerned about this winter? Do you have any mimosa? (I certainly have enough to share!)