It would have helped to think about the vantage point when taking the photos. The reason is the house to the left blends so much in tone and color with the branches and takes away from seeing the tree well. I'd like to see more of the leaves, from a step or two or so back farther. I like the fence, that adds some nice interest to the photo.
This could work in color and B&W both I think, but needs the contrast adjusted to get black and white instead of gray (that's to me what makes that one blah).