#1 does nothing for me. But I think if you had less sky in #2 and bumped the colors a little bit, the picture would be pretty nice. I know those red plant thingies that you shot, and they have some neat color - so pull that out. Plus the sky in 2 has some nice coloring in it as well.
Hmmmm ... on my (really bright) screen, the colours are not quite as vibrant as I had expected from reading the title. On both occasions, a cloud pushed in front of the sun and made what were vibrant colours in the sun a bit bland in the shadow...