The last of the leaves are falling from the vine maples. The vine maple is a cousin to the Big Leaf Maple. Walking around our West Seattle parks, it is amazing to see the size of some of the leaves that have fallen from those big trees. But I like the grace and delicacy of the vine maples, and often their colors are brighter and more varied and vibrant than those of Big Leaf Maples. In that, they remind me of Japanese maples.

Vine maples can be used as ornamental trees and have multiple values for creating habitat in your yard and in our parks. They provide nesting sites and cover for many birds and mammals. Birds use the seed stalks and leaves for nest building. Earlier this fall, I observed squirrels hanging upside down in the branches of the vine maple at the entrance to the lodge, eating the seeds and leaving a good deal of debris on our front porch. The caterpillars of the Brown tissue and Polyphemus moths eat the leaves, and caterpillars of the Western Tiger Swallowtail butterfly build small feeding structures from folded leaves tied and lined with silk.

The First Peoples used the vine maple in a variety of ways. Debra Teachout-Teashon explains, "The Quinault tribe's word for maple is maxo' atcalnix, meaning the basket tree. Both the Quinault and Makah took advantage of the long flexible shoots from the trees to make baskets for hauling wood, clams and fish. The Quinault also used the wood for fires and mixed the charcoal with oil to make a black paint. Chehalis, Lummi, Quileute, and Quinault used the vine maple to make fish traps. The tree was employed to hold down roof planks on houses. From saplings, the Skagit tribe made salmon tongs and swings for baby cradles. Modesse and Shuswap tribes wove snowshoes out of the shoots. Clallams dried the sap to eat and possibly ate it fresh. My favorite of all the uses were by the Karok in California, where the women made a love potion out of the branches. Where is the recipe?"

Consider planting some vine maples under trees where it is moist and partly shady.