I think the tonality mix/composition of the second is very pleasing and much better than the first, I think the light fern is distracting too much there.
I probably have read too much John Shaw, but somehow pictures with damaged leaves/petals are never "fully" OK to me, which make hosta leaves very hard to photograph. We have many nice hostas in our garden as well, but the snails kind of ruin my chances from almost day 1.