I planted 3 Maples last year- 1 silver and 2 reds (I think that is what they are called.)

They grow fast.

My house is surrounded by 200 foot tall Native pines but the rest of the yard was bare, except for a few sickly sweetgums. So I have planted a mixture of trees including some native pines.

People keep clearing the pines and planting other trees. This worries me that we are loosing the native trees around here.

Maples are not native to this part of Texas. You can find them in central Texas where an island of Maples thrive in the deep valleys. They are leftovers from the last Ice Age. They call it Lost Maples.

Texas has several islands of trees. Just East of Austin is a forest of pines removed from East Texas. They call them the Lost Pines. Out in the west Texas desert, there are forest of trees on many mountain tops. These include aspen. There are aspen in Texas. Big Bend also has these mountain forest high above the surrounding deserts.