NHS president Nita-Jo Rountree gets ready to grill vegetables freshly picked from her own garden.

And you’ll find them at the Northwest Horticultural Society

What happened to casual conversation among strangers? Say you turn to the woman seated next to you at the DMV and joke “Do I look awful enough for my driver’s license picture?” She doesn’t laugh. In the old days, she might have joked back saying, “Not yet. Mess your hair up some more. They won’t shoot the photo until you look like you’ve been to an all night party. And don’t forget to close your eyes before they snap the picture.” But the woman didn’t hear your joke. That’s because she’s too busy fishing through her purse in search of her cell phone pealing ring tones of Bolero. Once she answers, you hear her say, “Yes, I’m here at the DMV all alone.”

In pre-cell phone days, face to face conversation had the potential of leading to a friendship. I remember casually chatting with a complete stranger during my son’s swim lesson. As we talked I suddenly discovered her son had the same name as my son. This led to other commonalities. Soon we were getting together for coffee after the lessons. I don’t think we would have become friends if she, or I, had cell phones chiming away in our purses.

Landscape designer Nita-Jo Rountree has come across some difficulties of her own in getting to know people. Cell phones didn’t get in the way, however. But lunges and hip-shaking did.

Imagine trying to extend the hand of friendship to someone huffing, puffing, kicking and thrusting. It’s not easy. Nita-Jo moved to the Puget Sound area six and a half years ago when her husband transferred to Seattle. She didn’t know anyone. “Since I have no children, I didn’t have the same avenue for meeting and making friends that many people have,” she said. “So I spent my first two years here redesigning and planting my backyard.”

In the hope of making new friends, she decided to sign up for a jazzercise class. But her prospect for new friendships didn’t happen. “It’s a little difficult with everyone jumping up and down,” said Nita-Jo. After that, she joined a gardening organization. “But they didn’t provide the educational opportunities I was seeking,” she explained.

Then she discovered the Northwest Horticultural Society. At last! “I not only found the educational opportunities I wanted, but I made many very close friends.”

Today Nita-Jo Rountree serves as the NHS president. Her personable and gregarious personality makes new friendships seem like a guarantee.

“The Northwest Horticultural Society provides a whole variety of opportunities,” she told me in a recent phone conversation. “You can meet people who have the same interest as you and attend our classes, which are just outstanding. They’re usually held in a private garden you wouldn’t ordinarily see. You can choose from topics that interest you like the landscape lighting class that gets more and more popular every year. The garden writing class is popular too. At times we focus on a plant such as the salvia class we had here at my house. And we’ve offered some unique classes like a rebar bending class, showing how to make trellises and arbors out of rebar.”

The learning opportunities extend to the monthly Wednesday night lecture series with captivating garden topics. Alice Doyle’s coming-up March 12 lecture “Behind Every Good Plant Is a Great Story” promises intriguing tales behind exceptional plants.

The annual symposium has captivating appeal as well. “The Ornamental Plant: From Third Century Athens to Your Garden” scheduled for Saturday March 29, 9 am to 4 pm at Bastyr University will take you on a historical journey of plants.

The NHS exhibit at the 2008 Northwest Flower & Garden Show offers another kind of educational journey, one that begins in the garden and ends at the dinner table. The display “Eat Your Vegetables! Garden to Table” will showcase three different styles of edible gardens and include a demonstration kitchen. Renowned chefs like Tony Poplin, culinary arts instructor for the Puget Sound Skills Center, will demonstrate recipes using locally grown food. When I asked Tony about his presentation “Johnny, Eat Your Vegetables — Recipes So Good Even Kids Will Eat Them” 3 p.m, Sunday, Feb. 24, he quipped jovially, “Our audience will see there are quick and easy ways in conning their kids to eat their vegetables.” Fondue, radish carvings, pan-fried vegetable cakes have a way of bamboozling just about anyone into healthier eating.

The NHS began in 1966 as a means of supporting the establishment of the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington. Today the organization serves the northwest gardening community with scholarships, grants, the Garden Notes quarterly magazine, discounts on Pacific Horticulture magazine, symposiums, classes, garden tours and of course, comradeship.

Speaking of garden tours, NHS will host an East Coast Tour sometime in late summer, 2008. A 2009 garden tour will travel to Australia.

“We have regional tours too,” Nita-Jo said, adding, “We have so many opportunities for people to participate. And did I mention? In March we’ll hold our first ever Spring Plant Sale featuring spring ephemerals.”

I asked Nita-Jo what aspect of the organization was most rewarding to her.

“It’s hard to limit it to just one,” she replied. “But for me personally it’s the friends I’ve made.”

For more information go to www.northwesthort.org, e-mail nwhort@aol.com or call (206) 527-1794. The Spring Ephemeral Plant Sale will be held Friday, March 14 at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle, noon to 8 pm.