I think we often idealize forest trees with our notions of urban specimens. While the latter might have nice, rounded crowns, most trees fight for space and compete to get to the top of the canopy. Hence, they tend to be more vertically structured than rounded. The puff ball approach is kind of like a forest of park trees. Teasing them up into more irregular shapes would go a long way in removing the regularity of the technique.
Personally, I thought your scenery was very well executed.
