Mimosa can refer to a couple of different plants. Is it Albizia julibrissen you have? I have experience with this tree. I have no experience with Calliandra. I grow Albizia in containers. It grows fast, and needs top and root pruning to keep it containerized. The compound leaves are quite large, and reportedly do not reduce very well, making it unsuitable for small bonsai. I have seen some nice Albizia bonsai, though, so it can be done. What you need to understand before you begin bonsai; small-trunked bonsai do not become thick-trunked bonsai. Before you can start to train your tree as a bonsai, you need to have the thick trunk first. So, you will need to grow your tree in the ground (for fastest growth) or in a container (slower growth) in order to develop a thick trunk. Only then will you begin training. Developing the thick trunk will take some years. This quote from bonsai4me.com: "A common misconception amongst newcomers to the art of bonsai is that trees (bonsai) with large, thick trunks must have had decades of training to become the size they are and that a thin-trunked seedling will one day acquire a thick mature trunk even though it is planted in a bonsai pot. Unfortunately, once a tree is growing in the confines of a small pot, with its roots restricted and upper growth regularly pruned, the trunk and branches of the tree will only thicken very slowly. Large bonsai with thick trunks are nearly always developed in the ground prior to being planted into a pot; some are purposely field grown, some are collected mature trees." Do a lot of research, and you may find you would be better off finding a bigger tree to begin with. Cheers!

All the plants you asked about should be fine here if cared for properly. The yellow bells is a bit more frost sensitive but it grows back rapidly. You should consider the size of the area you might place each of these in as the mature size of each of these plants is very different. There are at least 5 different 'texas sage' varieties that work well and are different sizes. If you want to stop ripping things out and having to prune all the time, select native or desert adapted plants and plan for the mature sizes of each plant to fit into your yard space. This web site is a great resource for planning your landscape: (click on 'Plant Info Sheets') Here is a link that might be useful: Mountain States

In their native range, these plants are used to growing in nutrient deficient soil, so I would not fertilize. They can be pruned using hand pruners; a light staggered prune is probably best if you do. In some years, and locations, established plants have come back from roots after an unusually hard freeze--but it probably took some time to regain form. It is difficult to make specific pruning recommendations without seeing a photo of the plant in question. These plants often look a bit scraggly to me--maybe due to the small size of the foliage vs. stems. I have not seen many that were happy enough to be very bushy, even though they produced plenty of flowers.

Omar and Pam, thank you. Patty, only when the red fairy duster is blooming (which is most of the summer) is it noticeable. As for talinum I figured the mention of it would get a rise out of you just like the mention of cactus does for Kathy ... LOL But I will say talinum in the 'limon' variety is an easy way to get the lime green color ... :-) I got it at one of our swaps and can bring seeds if anyone wants it. For anyone not familiar with talinum let it be known that it seeds out very readily. I don't mind it, but when you have a lot of baby plants in pots that you're nuturing along like Patty does, it is a bother to keep pulling them out. Here is a link that might be useful: Talinum otherwise known as Jewels of Opar, 'limon'