I think I prefer the previous actually, not sure about the smudgy stuff.
I did a example here of the kind of softer foliage I had imagined, toning down the colour a bit too, and bringing up the value of the cliff behind for reduced contrast (also as atmospheric perspective). While I was doing that I noticed you could perhaps get a better sense of depth, and also of light by utilising directional marks according to the perspective of the ground plane and by bringing up the brightness in the sky, foreground and form shadow; there was quite a lot of black in the last which is detracting from the sense of reflected light that's so prominent in the ref, and I think is better reserved for punchy bits of occlusion.
Also, those three rocks in the middle are strangely aligned, like a beaded necklace, I really don't know where to stop with these things do I?