Wow!! I am swooning over these backyards!!

Many of these look like the same neighborhood, with identically sized enclosed back yards. (Not MY reality!) But they are lovely, and I agree, the clean lines are elegant.

I have a hard time seeing past the sleek affluence these exude, the sameness of the gray stone slabs, and the sense that the owners don't do much of the gardening themselves. It would be nice to see some more handmade/homemade rectilinear modern gardens.

Actually, I find these gardens a bit cold without the sense that real people with real lives live in them and enjoy them. Skipping that I need to weed my back yard, it is constantly littered (in a good way) with whiffle balls both from my kids and from my neighbors. And also my neighbors yards.

I love these gardens. Amazing!

The couple in the first photo don't look very comfortable. While I find these patios pleasing to look at, I also think they are cold and sterile. When I am in my little patch of nature in my tiny Brooklyn patio, I want colors of plants and flowers all around me. Not a cold grey slab.

The Outer Space patio is the only one that seems inviting to me. The coldness in most of them is perhaps what cityfolk qualify as nature. Sad. As a former independent nursery manager and garden designer, I am keenly aware of design issues that can constrain a garden area, but it seems as though these designers forgot the point of a garden in the first place.