Open land as in your screenie is very hard to achieve. I am rather trying to design levels with a low camera range. For example, a canyon enviroment that allows rich vegetation at all times.
You mean like this? (p.s. the trees are just placeholders - I know they look bad)
(View movie here)
I'm designing my current game engine to handle it all - dense swamplands, wide open grassy planes, mountainous forests, etc., :)
(I guess this is a little bit off topic, but I'm sure some of you are a little interested in why I'm giving my old code away ;) )