Art is a matter of personal taste.
It sure is! Personally I always try to 'see' the print on my walls and think from this perspective.
As for texture blending, I have mixed feelings about it. On the one side, there are certain shots where the technique seems to add something pleasant and 'valid', there are others where I perceive it nearly as a gimmick, hence I would get tired too quickly looking at it.
In one of those videos made by Juliane Kost, she worked on a shot made in Iceland, she texture blended Ice structures from another shot over the entire scene, it added immediately the 'crisp' atmosphere she no doubt experienced while standing there.
In this context, your old timer shot worked the same for me, without being too obtrusive, in my world most important to successfully apply this technique, it added the 'desert flavor' hence enhanced the original, adding a dimension if you will.
This did not work too well in the 'cactus shot'
in my eyes.