(Click on underlined title to see more pictures and info)(Before photo above) 

What I'm showing here is a before and after of a given yard, wherein the 'before' photo is how the landscape was, which I describe as 'Distinguished Classic Modern Conservative Landscape Architecture'.   And, in comparison with the 'before' composition, I find the 'after' composition is substantially less endearing.  

It's not bad, it's not unattractive, but in my opinion it is much less endearing than what I consider the 'before' was, as a matter of the structure, even for what I project in the years to come with the given new composition.   The before composition I consider to be a basically world class structural example of 'nice normal American landscaping' in the fundamental simple sense,... like on a conservative Hollywood, nice-upper-middle-class-America, film-set.  The 'after' is basically an example, of sorts, of the modern wave of 'water wise' 'California Fusion' landscape style.

And as for water issues,... I wonder what the difference actually is in necessary applied water usage (besides actual water usage which well established plants/trees can get by their far-reaching roots and mycorrhizal relationships,.. but then there's the potential matter of large tree-root concrete damage, unless they get replaced with young trees if necessary or prudent, or, different trees,..., but let's not go there)  ,... but even still, there's all the expense in the re-do of the landscape, and beyond that there's the matter of aesthetic preference, and the psychological effect of landscape structure, if one cares.  And yes, the lawn needs mowing.

No offense is intended, I'm just making a case-consideration of compare and contrast on the matter of what one loses and gains in this example of before and after.  I suppose it was matter of new owners, and they wanted a new start with new landscaping and house paint-coloration.   I realize there's the potential for the 'after' in this case to be more attractive to hummers, bees, and butterflies, given the more floriferious species of plants used, which I realize aren't all readily identifiable in the 'after' photo.   And of course, the 'after' could have been made much more endearing or attractive even with the 'new era' criteria, such as lower water usage, more diversity, more flowers for critters,... But all that can be done in the backyard, and other yards around the neigbhorhood, depending on what the character of the house 'calls for', most keenly, for how to make the landscape composition.

Before:

And after: