FWIW I prefer your first shot.
I think the fuller, taller shape is more pleasing, and the branch at the bottom right gives balance and weight to the base, which without the branch, just opens the shot up to indecision, as the various later, alternative crops prove. You could continue cropping ad infinitum if you remove that branch - which just means there's no strong, obvious concept left; you original take got the shot.
Rob C