yes, i think it needs a little sharpening too. If you remove the top branch perhaps extend the top and left canvas just slightly to make the leaf a bit smaller in the frame?
I like the idea behind this and think it might have worked better (more dramatically) in black and white and like others suggested without the top branch.
I do feel there is something strange going on with the colours and sharpness of the current image perhaps due to post-processing.
Hey Bill, another real nice idea. This is a real nice comp and interesting image, I would agree the top right branch isn't adding any thing, so to simplify the image I would clone it out.