To be FURIOUS that the new neighbours have chopped down our entire rose bush?!

[itstimeforchange]

Their garden backs onto ours and they have been tidying up the garden since moving in recently. I have just seen that they have cut down the entire wild rose bush at the bottom of our garden!! There is a (pathetic) wire fence and a few stalks are probably on their side, but they have clearly crossed the line literally and figuratively and chopped down the whole thing, most of which is at our side of two small concrete posts, so not even any excuse about knowing where the border is would work here. It was my favourite plant in the whole garden. I can't go round to speak to them right now as I have to go out, but I am so upset

user1479335914 That is awful! Even if I didn't love nature I would be seriously peeved at that. As it is I can't abide any plants being killed. I even found myself being sympathetic to the beauty of dandelions the other day...

DMC

It's horrible. But, provided they didn't dig it up as well, they may have done you a favour. Roses really benefit from a hard prune, and come back better and stronger than before.

User, I'm with you. One of my favourites is a cowslip. We even dig them out of the lawn and plant them in the flower beds. Lovely.

People are very strange about plants. We have a wild flower embankment opposite our houses, and some of our neighbours took it upon themselves to get their kids to plant bloody daffodils all over it. Don't get me wrong, I love a daffodil, but these are not native ones and will inhibit all the wild flowers. And they are everywhere.

It's completely unreasonable, but In support of what quite a few other people have said - we have a large rose bush in our garden and twice a year I cut it right back - it seems the more aggressively I do it the more exuberantly it comes back. SO depending on the time of year it normally flowers, you might not get flowers this year but long term it should be ok (or even better for the prune). You need to talk to them though to stop them doing it again just as it's about to flower next year, or deciding to dig it out/use weedkiller when they see they haven't killed it :)

OP - the mum you spoke to will trample all over your boundary if you don't know your own legal position re the boundary.

You might not change your deeds - why would you?
However, if you allow them to move the concrete posts/your boundary, they or future owners may well be able to claim adverse possession due to the status quo.

Oh I feel you OP- I was annoyed at DH hacking out our lilac. The brute. Thought the fence thing may be at the root (sorry) of it all, and perhaps an over zealous mistake.

I will say though that Emphasise is right - apparently there is a quote out there somewhere that says "get your worst enemy to prune your roses".

Next year you will have a flourish of buds following a hearty chop. Best of luck.

Hacking out a LILAC!!!???!!!

My DH did the same with a beautiful Wisteria. I cried.

I'm with you itstimeforachange , I love dandelions too, and am just now researching all the things you can do with them - dandelion root coffee for example, and one of James Wong's books has a bath oil you can make from the flowers, also wine ...

CouldntMakeThisShitUp IF they put a fence further into their land I would not let them remove the original fence. I don't know much about adverse possession but the original border is staying put and I would hope that would avoid any issues.

Re. worst cutting offences the most terrible is still my dad. He and my DM have a woodland area with mainly pine and beech - she and I adore beech trees. There were, oh I dunno, maybe 8 young ish beech trees (average 15 years old maybe) scattered in the open spaces amongst the big trees. They were lovely and filled an otherwise empty, dull-coloured space.

He cut them all down.

(DM still hasn't got over it, years later)

Professional gardeners love to do a hard prune. I was taught how to prune roses by one, by using a big pair of hedge shears. The roses love it and come back much healthier and stronger. You'll be surprised, it'll have done it good. I now hack mine back cruelly and the growth is all the better for it.

Wild roses seem to spring up here from nothing. That's what they do.
Don't worry, it'll be fine. If you do feel anxious, put down some feed now and then mulch over the top.