nearly as engaging , definitely: the other way seems to mean that it is nearly (almost) engaging. Um--I found myself struggling a bit to keep up with what was going to happen with those lovely fringes; I kept thinking, "They do what"? the boundaries of the leaves is what I was struggling with; I wonder if the sentence would be as clear leaving out all but the last two words of this phrase.

I love the imagery created; but I didn't care for the struggle I had to go through to get there. But maybe that's just me.