its a simple equation ... its either your backyard.. or the trees... if you dont prune.. the tree will take over .... with no more than that pic ... and presuming there is a deck or patio behind.. i would prune everything .. from the pix sight-line... below the fence behind.. and whn i got near the fence line.. i would stop.. and wait until next year.. taking this summer to find out if i liked what i achieved.. my general pruning rule is.. you can always take more off next year.. but you cant staple them back on.. if you get carried away .... because i would want to retain the site block on the houses behind ... if there is a deck and its elevated.. then that might change perspectives.. etc ... i would then hand prune off any twig-let branches.. new word there.. lol ... of any twigs growing down.. from what i left... anything that could poke me in the eyes while i enjoy my shade ... its much simpler to snip off a tiny twig.. than wait until its an inch thick .... and while you are at it.. knock him down.. and give him a shave also ... lol .. do you have any clue on how to prune [i see a link above, which i dont have time to proof] .. do you own the right saw.. and do you have a pair of good pruning hand shears??? ken ps: i wouldnt worry about more than one leader.. now that it is fence high ... i dont think that these trees favor single leaders naturally.. so i wouldnt be worrying about it in the future .... i would not want a shrub at the ground.. but now that it will be over my head.. i feel its moot ....

Thank you both for the suggestions and for the link. I do not want to move any of them. The only side of my house that gets shade is the side where they are, so moving them would mean getting rid of them- and I love those plants! Plus, when they are blooming, it looks so beautiful!! I think I will take the suggestion of pruning each year. Right now, they are just about the right size- any bigger and they might be too big, I think! Mine aren't 6 feet yet-more like 3x3 or so... but the garden bed isn't that big, and obviously, there's the house that gets in the way! Thanks again. I'll see how it turns out.

I have 2 Clematis vines that I planted last spring/summer. I kept them under 18 inches all season. Now I have 2 tiny vines coming from the ground with foliage starting about 12" off the gound and reaching up to about 2' with stems spreading onto trellis. Still pretty puny but happy with some flower buds forming. Should I keep pruning to keep to 18" this whole season to promote that all important root growth or is there a different plan I should follow for this season. I am afraid I do not have the variety info here at work with me but I think one is a group 2 and the other a group 3. Also, how to "shade" the roots without having competition for water and nutrients? It is about 18 inches away from a rose that will provide some shade once it grows a bit taller (was overpruned by an over-zealist husband). Thank you for any and all advice!

If you are in zone 8-9, you COULD cut it off now. I still wouldn't. I guess in somewhere they stay out all winter and don't drop leaves, it would probably be ok. Legginess will still be there in the spring. My duck ate some leaves from a pachypodium (a close DR relative) that I was under the impression were MORE posionous than DR, lived to quack another day(s). Didn't even faze him. Them being more toxic than Oleander...I doubt it...but am certianly no exprt! Just an opinion. I would say Oleander tops them all. I guess if the squirrels puked them up, it wouldn't hurt them? I have no clue about the digestive system of squirrels. But back to pruning...I'd just leave things alone. When you do prune you want to pune at an angle...like make it look like the tip of a brand new lipstick. I hope that makes sense. When you make one cut, three new sets of leaves will grow around the cut. Usually. I've had just two before, but generally three. That's a whole lot of energy the plant puts into growing right at the end of the season and then it will just wilt and die when they have to come in for the winter or whatever. I think it's all an energy thing. All said, these are tough plants and can take a lot...during the growing season. They are a lot more fragile when inside during the winter. And about the poison thing, I wouldn't on purpose feed this plant to anything and will continue to keep my cats away from them!!