Still Breaking Rules

I think the stems that are left after an Agapanthus blooms are really interesting.  They have a sculptural quality that I like but have not been able to capture as well as I want, so this time I tried the Lensbaby and hoped the blur and distortion of the stems along the edges would add to the image...I also thought the bright green spot of sunlight was a good way to frame this one but I wasn't completely blown away by the result, plus the "not impressed" feedback from my judge at home and finally the so-so test print all made me decide to leave this one in the computer.  No texturing was added, although I had framed all my shots on the left side of the frame so to make this centered I had to add a small amount of canvas on the left and there is cloning done there.  The same rules were broken here as yesterday's post ---- not using the Rule of Thirds and not having the subject focused throughout.