Robert Speaker

WETA Hometown Hero October 2007. As a volunteer at the Washington Youth Garden, "Butterfly Bob" Speaker reaches out to youth in our community and educates them about plants and wildlife.

Watch online »

Robert Speaker, a.k.a. “Butterfly Bob,” a longtime volunteer at the Washington Youth Garden (WYG) at the U.S. National Arboretum and the curator of its butterfly garden, is the focus of a month-long WETA Hometown Heroes profile airing in October on WETA TV 26.

WETA selected Speaker for his dedication in educating youth on environmental issues through educational gardening programs, inspiring children and adults alike throughout the District to enjoy and respect butterflies and other pollinators.

Speaker, a resident of the Washington, D.C. area since 1964, shares his butterfly identification and tagging skills with the participants of the WYG programs, which use the garden cycle as a tool to motivate children and families to engage in self-discovery. He honed his skills from his membership in the Washington Area Butterfly Club and the North American Butterfly Association, and his WYG butterfly numbers are included in the latter organization’s national counts.

Speaker also improved the WYG vegetable plots with techniques that cultivate the relationship between plants and insects, researching and planting host and nectar plants for pollinators, which leads to an increased produce yield that is often donated to the D.C. Central Kitchen.

“I believe all the kids take something from the WYG experience that will influence their lives, which is the guide and reward for my efforts,” said Speaker. “They learn about the natural world and their relationship with it and about themselves through successes and failures growing plants. I watch their reactions – from “Yuck!” to interest to wonder – at these small but important parts of the ecosystem.”

In addition to his responsibilities as the butterfly garden curator, Speaker provides tours of the butterfly garden; is an educator for special programs in the WYG, at local elementary schools and in other areas of the National Arboretum; and has created many of the plant structures for the entire garden.

Speaker’s volunteer work has also included creating a butterfly garden for the Northeast Branch Library and another garden on the Ma and Pa Trail in Harford County, Maryland. He leads morning tours for birding enthusiasts with his wife, Amy, and trains other WYG volunteers. The WYG is located at the U.S. National Arboretum, in the northeast section of Washington, D.C., and serves students, families and educators throughout the Washington area.

In addition to self-discovery, the mission of the WYG is to use gardening to inspire children and families to explore relationships with food and the natural world, and contribute to the health and well-being of their communities. One of three local youth gardens founded in 1971 by the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation in conjunction with the Washington Youth Garden Council, the gardening program teaches elementary school students in D.C. horticultural skills and life skills such as team building, cooperation, personal responsibility, self-confidence and environmental stewardship. Their interdisciplinary classroom curriculum is designed for grades 3-5, and they are also able to accommodate a variety of ages in their garden programs. The WYG works in partnership with the U.S. National Arboretum, National Capital Area Federation of Garden Clubs and Slow Food D.C. The Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA) has overseen the WYG since 1996.

Go to website »