9139 Pruneing our mimosa

We have a very large mimosa tree the large branches of which split due to heavy snow fall. It has now finished blossoming and is due to be pruned. Its going to look very odd if we take out all the damaged branches. Is there anyway we can "mend" the split branches so that they might fuse together again?. Or if we do prune heavily will the tree rejuvanate?. It is a strong feature of our terrace and I would hate to loose it..
Thanks
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Category
Gardening & Agriculture

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/25/2008 - 13:25

It is so sad to see beautiful trees with broken branches, but like you I tried to repair them, but they still died! I then cut all the branches back, like giving a young child a haircut, and thought I had done something dreadful to it. However, by the time it was full summer, new branches had grown stronger and longer then before! Have courage, cut off the damaged parts, trim up the rest so it does not look too lop-sided, and then wait. Out here, Nature is very quick to repair!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/25/2008 - 19:36

Mimosa resprouts from the base and will put up a new main trunk. If it is left unpruned it can easily blow down in bad weather. Seems indestructible to us in a Mimosa growing area - have courage.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 11:43

Yes , take courage and prune away. Now is a good time as your tree will have a chance to put on new branches in readiness for next year's flowering. Incidentally I prune ours every year to keep a nice shape and I'm advised by locals to stop it getting too vigorous and heaving up the paving on the terrace! Each year it is a picture.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/27/2008 - 03:51

Thanks everyone for the replies. We will give it a good prune and then cross our fingers.
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