Thanks for your comments.
Eric - Thanks for being honest. It sounds like I need to work more on IR to get something that works well. I wasn't sure, and needed another opinion. Something to work on in the future. (Though you'll turn my head with your comments on my little vacation photos! )
Rich -
My conversion was like yours - playing around with a bunch of stuff until something came out that I like, without any real plan. I left it in somewhat desaturated color for the raw conversion, used levels on the individual channels, then swapped the red & blue channels, and what came out was slightly purple, which I liked. I like your cropping out the doorframe - that was a good move. I think I still like my original almost-burnt-out distant vegetation, though, as it contrasts well (and slightly weirdly) with the dark door. YMMV.
I think I need to play with a lot more IR photos to get the feeling of what works well in IR and what works well in post-processing. Still learning!
Lisa