Sugar Maple is a tree of cold climates and one of the main reasons New England enjoys a robust tourist industry in the fall.   People come from everywhere to hike the blazing red mountains or gaze at upward at hills filled with glorious reds and oranges.
 
      Other trees add to the luster, but Sugar Maple rises above them all, sometimes topping heights of 100 feet. 
 
     In the home landscape, Sugar Maple's spreading crown provides exceptional shade, and as a Keystone Species, it supports hundreds of caterpillars including the Imperial and other moth larvae.  Birds eat the caterpillars and other insects; small mammals eat the seeds and nest in the tree's cavities. Butterflies are attracted to the tree's nectar.
 
     Fun fact: Native Americans taught the Colonists how to tap sugar maples to make maple syrup.