Pruning roses back severely is sometimes a way to help reinvigorate them; if the rose bushes weren't taken out completely, but just chopped way back? Then it may actually be a sign of someone who really loves the rose bushes, but has a different method of caring for them.
(Or wants to train them into different shapes)
So don't be too angry yet, Moi!
See how they do over the next year, first.

The type of pruning that really astonishes me is pollarding. Every time I see a pollarded tree just after being pruned I'm continually surprised that anyone would do that, and that the tree would even survive it....

but each year they come back beautifully, so I guess it works!


For roses, mostly I only ever see so much taken off if someone really wants to reshape it.
Like if it'd gone very tall, (I have one in my front yard about 6' now, on ~4 or 5 main stem lines) and they want a bushier shape, I'm considering cutting mine back down next year to the ~2 foot height line, because if I do that it will come out the year after with a number of new shoots so instead of having 4 or 5 super tall ones, I'll have about 20 shorter branch/stem lines.

Sometimes it's the other way around; if it's very bushy but they want it tall and then they'll take out almost all of the side branches and several of the main lines so they get just a few willowy branch lines shooting up. I've seen people do that, and then a few years later do some cross-grafting so they literally wove together several different rose bushes next to each other to create interweaving arches. It was beautiful.... (until a deer jumped their fence line and ate off all the new growth one year at just the wrong season, and it died, anyhow).

But honestly, if they're pruning instead of removing that's definitely a good sign.

(Also, if you want? Maybe write a note, something like "The roses at your house have always been so beautiful, I'm excited to see what your pruning style will create with them. Thank you for keeping them" and then anonymously leave it by their door.
They'll know that someone near them appreciate the roses and it might influence them to keep the roses if you think the pruning is a prelude to taking them out.
But definitely do it in a complimentary tone!
Studies have shown people respond much better to positive reinforcement than negative... they're more likely to internalize your opinions and think that your ideas are their own, and do what you want them to)

Yeah, I'm not very good with people either. That's why I like notes; I can write them in the comfort of my own home (benefit: online translators), and leave them on the door when I know no one will catch me (I'm often up at 3 or 4 am), and then I never have to actually interact with them, and they can't trace it back to me (unless they're super paranoid and rich and do something crazy like spend lots of money on ridiculous forensics stuff, but really. Who has the resources for that kind of stuff?).


I like perennial plants because it's easier to care for them, and they are usually hardier. Most of the stuff in my yard is very low-maintenance. Except the grass, but that's just so when my father visits he can have his dog run around on it, and so he comes and takes care of it. Otherwise that would all be mulch and creeping raspberry with some stone pathways cutting through. Which is all, you guessed it, low maintenance. :P

I have few sentimental things from my grandmother and I have kept my favourite (a miniature painting on a workbench) on my table next to my bed. I know I"m not going to get rid of it ever.

It's a beautiful painting of the Golden Gate Bridge with a ship in the foreground.

I love hand me downs. And I love to remember the story that goes with them. I'm sitting in a chair that my grandmother bought about 45 years ago. I have a lamp from a neighbor's mother. I have a bunch of stuff from my partner's parents after they passed away. I have a few things that belonged to the lady who owned my father's house before he did. I have a shelf from the people who lived here before us.

I once kept pieces of scrap paper because my baby cousin had drawn something on them and given them to me, saying that she'd drawn it for me XP

Eh. Not generally too much. There are some things that I'm super sentimental about but I'm not as bad as I used to be.

And I really appreciating the giving away people's stuff after they die. I mean, it's way better than the stuff just sitting around and no one getting any use out of it.