I don't blame you, you've got clones that look like they're in much better shape than the original plant.
If you're trying to keep a mother plant around, there's no reason for it to take up a lot of space. I see some crazy big/overgrown mother plants on here, kinda pointless for a home grower imo. You can keep them really small for a long time by vigorously pruning above and below ground. In case you're interested, here's a guide that I've found very useful for how to keep them small:
https://overgrow.com/t/bonsai-mums-by-oldtimer1/1433