West Roxbury Reads: Author Talk, Douglas W. Tallamy, PhD
April 7, 2025
Doors open at 6p.m., Talk begins at 6:30 p.m.
Lyndon Pilot School
The first speaker in the series will be entomologist and wildlife ecologist Douglas W. Tallamy, speaking at the auditorium of the Lyndon Pilot school, adjacent to the West Roxbury library at 20 Mt. Vernon Street. Tallamy’s brand new book, “How Can I Help?” will be sold for the first time at this Friends of the West Roxbury Branch Library event. The author’s presentation will be based on research for the new book. He will discuss innovations urban dwellers have come up with to boost biodiversity and support conservation despite having little or no land. Doors to the auditorium will open at 6 p.m. with the presentation beginning at 6:30 p.m. All Friends events are free and open to the public.
Tallamy’s 2019 book, “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard” was chosen by the Friends of the West Roxbury Library to anchor the West Roxbury Reads series.
Tallamy’s research at the University of Delaware focuses on understanding how insects interact with plants, birds, and animals to determine biodiversity of animal communities. The winner of a number of garden club and horticultural awards, he received the 2008 silver medal from the Garden Writers’ Association for his first book, “Bringing Nature Home” dubbed “the it book” in certain gardening circles according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
In his most recent book, “The Nature of Oaks” (Timber Press 2021), Tallamy stresses the foundational role of the Oak species in sustaining the complex web of above ground wildlife, but also the climate preservation value of its huge root system, champions of carbon sequestration, soil stabilization, and watershed management.
Tallamy co-founded the Homegrown National Park movement in 2021 to educate people about simple steps they can take to rebuild biodiversity where they are, by planting native species, removing invasive plants, and reducing the size of lawns, which play a limited role in nurturing insects while using copious water. Currently Homegrown National Parks has about 60,000 members who Tallamy reports are restoring about 100,000 acres of the U.S. “Our parks, preserves, and remaining wetland—no matter how grand in scale,” Tallamy says, “are too small and separated from one another to sustain the native trees, plants, insects and animals on which our ecosystem relies.”
West Roxbury Reads: Author Talk, Barbara Murphy, MS
April 14, 2025
Doors open at 6p.m., Talk begins at 6:30 p.m.
Lyndon Pilot School
Barbara Murphy, program director for Habitat for All at the Valentine Farm Conservation Center, will discuss how, under her direction, a small group of volunteers with no budget and lots of sweat equity converted an old pumpkin patch into a conservation and learning center that attracts more than 10,000 visitors a year. Murphy will present a talk and slide show chronicling this evolution, April 14 at 6:30 pm. Murphy’s presentation will also be at the Lyndon school auditorium.
Holding a master’s degree in plant and soil science, Murphy had for decades taught the master gardener course at the UMaine Cooperative Extension where she was assistant professor. There she also established the Mainer Harvest for Hunger program and coordinated its food donation system. With her husband Mike she’d also owned a rare plant nursery for a decade.
When Murphy joined Mahoosuc Land Trust in 2017, the 150-acre former Valentine farm was much smaller than the total 10,000 acres the Bethel, Maine-based Mahoosuc Land Trust held under conservation. Murphy, who had been hired to raise funds and visibility as the trust’s development director, thought that was a mistake. “I truly believe that gardeners and gardening can play a significant role in establishing needed green space and habitat, changing hearts and minds about the urgent need to address climate issues,” she says.
She began her horticultural scheme slowly. In 2018 she planted 300 linear feet of eye-catching Tithonia “Torch” or Mexican sunflower in the center field of the Valentine land to signal to drivers and bikers on the adjacent road that “something was afoot at Valentine Farm.” Dubbed “Pollinator Alley” it continues to play an important role for close-up observation of Monarchs, other butterflies, and bees, and educational signing about other insects likely to visit. The “Pollinator Alley” began to attract visitors from the road and hikers and dog walkers using the trails. The next year, she sited the first “Pollinator Garden” in 200 sq. ft. of the farm’s former squash and pumpkin field. Ten volunteers labored on the small weedy site under the hot May sun. There was, at that point, very poor soil, no irrigation nor onsite public water.
In 2020 , Murphy and her volunteers opened the garden to the public, expanding it to 2,000 sq. ft. by the end of 2021. That year the garden became a Monarch Way Station with volunteers tagging monarchs as part of their citizen science program, Monarch Watch. That August was also the garden’s first major event, the Monarch Festival, with more than 300 people attending. Murphy calls 2022 “the turning point.” With board support and donor funding, she and her volunteers expanded the garden’s path network, connected to town water, installed irrigation and built a shaded information structure with a detailed “reference library” showcasing native plants visitors might see in the garden and wish to incorporate in their own yards. The garden also underwent a name change, becoming the Habitat for All Garden, reflecting the four missions of the garden: habitat for birds and pollinators; food production; human sanctuary; and exploration/discovery. “We felt that to change minds and encourage everyone to participate, we needed the garden to reflect human as well as pollinator needs,” Murphy explains.
36th Annual Poetry Contest
May 5, 2025
Community Room in West Roxbury Library
The Friends’ annual Poetry Contest is a community-wide event held each spring for more than 35 years. Once the year’s theme is announced, local poets of all ages may enter their work into the competition. Winners are then invited to a ceremony at the West Roxbury Branch Library where each winning poem is read aloud. This year’s judge will be Anne Elezabeth Pluto. Stay tuned for details here.
If interested in volunteering for the Poetry Committee, contact Jan: jekriz964@comcast.net
Have an idea for an event that would benefit our community? Email us at Friends@FriendsoftheWRLibrary.org