Lots of Pruning!

I was asked recently by someone to prune their overgrown ornamental trees and shrubs.  The property is located on an old farmer's field, and as you can see plants thrive here!  There is no shortage of quality topsoil here.  As you can see by the before and after photos, we had a lot of pruning to do.  Sometimes when things are this overgrown it can be difficult to know where to start.  My preferred method is to begin removing dead/dying/diseased (3 Ds) branches first, then move onto "rubbing" or interfering limbs.  Keep in mind that sometimes if the rubbing branches are too important to the overall shape/structure of the tree, especially on an ornamental tree like the weeping cherry near the house, it is best to leave these branches for now.  In the future they might be removed if the tree fills in enough of the canopy.  Another option is to drill a 1/4" hole through both limbs and attach them to each other permanently to avoid friction/rubbing and possible damage to the limbs.  Over time trees sometimes fuse limbs together and do this naturally.