at least start with a picture if you want more than brandons speculation ... [though he is probably right] if it is small enough.. w/in your physical capability .... to move it.. do so in fall when its leaves fall off ... otherwise.. it is most likely grafted on a standard ... up high where it starts weeping.... [again with the pic, please] .... you can cut any branch back as far as you want.. to tame it.. but if you cut all the good stuff .. most likely the pole part... is not the weeping plant you want .... or they would not have wasted it as the standard .... this plant may actually have 2 grafts.. on the root stock.. down low [though i would defer on that] .... and the one up high ... pix please ken

I've never been able to warm up to the Snowfountain. That drastic up-&-down growth pattern just looks weird to me. Perhaps if I were planting it in a Japanese garden I'd find it more appealing. But in the general landscape, to me it just looks like a tube - lol!! My absolute favorite weeping tree is a weeping crabapple called "Louisa". It has a much more open, low, spreading, weeping habit, & is just SO very pretty. Flower buds start out dark pink - almost red - then open into 2-tone white-dark pink single flowers. In the fall, the tree sports small gold crabapples that the birds adore. What more could you ask for?

With the exception of dead, diseased, and larger rubbing branches (which should all be removed as soon as they are noticed), I'd wait until late winter or very early spring to prune. I didn't realize what the website I linked above said about this until just now, and I think their suggestion is slightly off. Pruning during late winter or very early spring will minimize chances of pest and disease problems and allow the tree to cover over pruning wounds in the quickest amount of time.

first.. remove all hanging weight .. leaving just a foot or so ... and then make the surgical cuts to cleanly remove the rest ... the most common cause of bad pruning cuts.. is trying to take off an 8 foot section.. and then it causes horrendous bark damage as it falls ... so be a bit patient and remove it in chunks ... and dont leave understock stubs.. which will bud out again... if it can be avoided ... a good tree saw would help ... and then all that is left.. is proper timing ... of the pruning ... the tree does have fall color change.. so it is probably basically dormant ... does you ground freeze in your z5?? ken