Tree Following & Other News from the Yard

I asked my young trees, "What does the future hold?" But all I heard was wind in the leaves.

From a distance, it looked like Flash the maple and Spike the hawthorn hadn't changed much in the two weeks I was gone. However, up close I could see the growing season is winding down. Maple leaves are ragged and dry, and hawthorn leaves are beginning to turn red and yellow. Snow and cold are in the forecast this week, but by next Sunday we're to be back to 60º F. I bet the hawthorn will keep some green leaves, and photosynthesize for awhile longer.

Flash, the Hot Wings Tartarian Maple, has been red for months.

Spike, the Winter King Hawthorn, gave life another try this year. Best wishes!

Hawthorn leaves are finally starting to turn.

Other News
Laramie had hard frosts while I was gone, and my native wildflower beds are mostly brown. But there are flashes of color here and there.
Bachelor's button and an unknown-to-me orange-rayed member of the daisy family are non-native annuals common in our native wildflower mixes. They bloom the first year after planting, and a few sometimes grow from seed after that, but not for long.This little white-flowered member of the mustard family is new to me. It started blooming in the last few weeks. I also saw it in a rocky drainage on the prairie east of town a few days ago. I hope it survives long enough to produce fruit, which are required for identifying many mustards with confidence. Or do you know it?

Flowers are about 5 mm across.

Firewheel/blanketflower/gaillardia is the toughest of the wildflowers in the yard, always blooming longest and latest. Nice color, but it's looking a bit ragged.
Protected by a fence, this black-eyed susan is very much alive, with its dark disc flowers still opening, progressing from outside in.
This is my contribution to the October gathering of treefollowers, kindly hosted by The Squirrelbasket. Want to try it? More info here. By the way, it's easy and stress-free!