A tad overenthusiastic

The townhouse we live in has great, green landscaping. It's not really a reason that we chose it, but there are constantly people working outside and it tends to look quite pretty. It was so unfortunate, then, that the garden people chose the day before my parents arrived (for their first visit out here in two and a half years!!) to demolish the pretty tropical evergreens (maybe New Zealand Flax?), and to prune the poor pines within an inch of their lives. Here's the shocking view outside the front door:



And another shot of the destruction:



I'm afraid that it seems to be catching... the trees across the street have looked like this for a few weeks -- trimmed to a fifth of their prior glory.



Poor things.