It's kind of hard for us to toss any advice your way because we can't see what you are talking about. Some pictures would help us to see what you mean. Anywho, I usually try not to plant anything that may encroach on any neighboring yards, so if it were me, I'd definately deal with the vibernum by either total removal, or by cutting it back. Keep in mind that a lot of plants can tolerate being cut back quite severely, thus starting them over. Note though that they have a good solid root system by this time, so they will grow much faster then they originally did. Besides being overgrown, the fact that the vibirnum has anything to do with Chicago is reason enough to deep six it :)

In the future, you should try to keep up on trimming yearly, because you'll achive better results. Waiting until you have a big mess, and then busting out the loppers, usually results in an unsightly trimming job for a while. The insides of bushes and trees a lot of times will die off because the inner leaves will get no sunlight. If you just grab the loppers and start cutting, you'll end up with a mass of sticks, and no leaves. Eventually things fill back in, but if you were to trim lightly each year, you'd never lose those inner leaves, so things stay full and looking good.

So, ultimately, you have to visualize what it is you want, and work from there. Dropping trees is a big deal, because they take a long time to grow, so you better be absolutely sure before you cut anything down. I am upset because the previous home owner planted 3 norway maples and one freeman maple in my yard, but planted them wrong. They apparently never cut or untangled circling roots when they planted them, and they planted too deep. They also never pruned the trees to establish a strong framework. Now I have 3 norways dying from girdling roots, and a freeman maple with 3 trunks that are splitting. I NEED to cut some down, but don't WANT to because it'll take a long time to have a new tree grow in. So, it's all up to you, but as I mentioned, without pics, we can't really know whether you need to drop trees or not.

Joe

I had a crew in last fall to clean up and trim up everything.
What a wonderful change! Both neighboring owners were pleased too, as they could finally see thru and across my deep back yard. I hope I have the energy this Spring to kill off some of the more agressive garden plants that took over too much territory. Some of the available plants should come with a warning on the tag; i.e. goosestrife. Will never plant that again!
Anyway, fellow Wisconsinites, I hope this site will be active again, because Spring is coming way sooner than usual this year...Yippee. Pondy

I can understand your thoughts about, having the energy, to kill off the undesirable weeds. I have a massive invasion of quackgrass that I expect I'll have to apply roundup as soon as it greens and then again as more green appears.
Hopefully the roots will all be dead by planting time. :)