Rush hour can deter anyone from traveling on the Eastside, let alone to an evening meeting in Seattle’s University District.

Washington Native Plant Society members are establishing an Eastside branch that meets in Bellevue to make the commute a little more reasonable for those living on the east side of Lake Washington.

“There were lots of people on the Eastside that really just don’t want to cross the bridge,” Franja Bryant said.

Bryant, of Bellevue, coordinates the Eastside branch and is the education chair on the Central Puget Sound board of directors.

Previously, Eastside members, who are clumped into the Central Puget Sound WA Native Plant Society chapter, only had the option of meeting in Seattle.

The Central Puget Sound chapter, established in 1976, is the largest chapter, with more than 900 members, according to the organization’s website.

About two years ago Bryant began organizing the Eastside branch.

“We kind of rotated between libraries (for meeting spaces),” Jan Bird, of Sammamish, said.

Bird, a WA Native Plant Society member, has been part of the Eastside group trying to establish the branch.

Recently, the group began partnering with the Bellevue Botanical Garden located off Main Street in Bellevue.

In exchange for using the garden’s Aaron Education Center, members volunteer in the garden.

The Eastside branch meets about three times a year.

The WA Native Plant Society’s members have all levels of botanical knowledge, from professionals to experienced amateur botanists and beginners.

For more than 35 years, the society, a nonprofit organization, has educated members and the public on the value of native plants in Washington.

Through the society’s Native Plant Stewardship program, a free 10-week educational course, many Eastside cities have benefitted from program’s graduates.

As a way to repay that training, stewards commit time to specific projects.

For example, in February, stewards were on site in Sammamish helping volunteers identify invasive plants to remove and provided additional information on native shrubs and trees.

The Eastside branch last met Oct. 22 to hear from mushroom expert Daniel Winkler.

He spoke to more than 60 people about mushrooms’ favorite hide-outs, their fruiting time and the best ways to enjoy them. Of those 60, nearly all said they lived on the Eastside.

Winkler included photos and stories from his time researching the fungi in Tibet, the Amazon, Colombia and the European Alps.

The next Eastside branch meeting at the Bellevue Botanical Garden is Jan. 13, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.

Ethnobotanist Heidi Bohan will give a presentation on the relationship between humans and plants, specifically how cultures use plants for things like food, shelter, clothing, transportation, medicine and spiritually.

The botanical garden is located at 12001 Main St., Bellevue. Refreshments will be available at 7 p.m.

For more information on the Eastside WA Native Plant Society branch, visit www.wnps.org/cps/ or call 206-527-3210.