40 GARDEN RAILWAYS FALL 2019PLANTS ON THE
KITTATINNY
MOUNTAIN
RAILROAD
Sussex, NJ,
USDA
Hardiness
Zone 6
DWARF CONIFER
Dwarf Alberta spruce
Picea glauca ‘Conica’
SMALL TREES AND SHRUBS
Japanese maple
Acer palmatum var.
Cranberry cotoneaster
Cotoneaster apiculatus
Coral Beauty cotoneaster
Cotoneaster dammeri ‘Coral Beauty’
GROUNDCOVERS
Firewitch dianthus, pinks
Dianthus gratianopolitanus ‘Firewitch’
Wintercreeper
Euonymus sp.
Sweet woodruf f
Galium odoratum
Bluets, Quaker ladies
Houstonia caerulea
Corsican mint
Mentha requienii
Jacob’s ladder
Polemonium caeruleum
Irish moss
Sagina subulata
Goldmoss stonecrop
Sedum acre
White stonecrop
Sedum album
Russian stonecrop
Sedum kamschaticum
Blue Spruce stonecrop
Sedum reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’
Jelly beans stonecrop
Sedum rubrotinctum
Two-row stonecrop
Sedum spurium
Hen-and-chicks
Sempervivum sp.
White creeping thyme
Thymus praecox ‘A l b i f l o r u s ’
Red creeping thyme
Thymus praecox ‘Coccineus’
Mother of thyme
Thymus serpyllum
Silver Gem prostrate blue violet
Viola walteri ‘Silver Gem’produced tons of f luorescent rocks. Given
time, I’m also likely to include other small
hamlets that represent notable sites in the
region where I reside.
The hamlets and work sites will stay
small, but that’s isn’t necessarily the case
for some of the engineered structures I
built along the line. After installing a few
hills and other hardscaping features, I
built a 12' wood trestle on one side of my
railroad, and a covered bridge spanning
50" across a waterfall ravine. It isn’t sur-
prising that these locations are prime
settings for spectacular photography
and video too.Picture-perfect people
One of the many things I enjoy about
garden railroading is creating scenes andmaking videos of my railroad. I like to
create plausible scenes, and then add a
wrinkle or two. One way I accomplished
that was through the use of figures.
At first, I used more realistic figures in
my scenes. But there was nothing unique
about them. It wasn’t until I discovered
Little Plastic People by James Barnett
(etsy.com/shop/LittlePlasticPeople). He
produced caricature-style figures that
appealed to me. Plus, he was also able to
create figures using nothing more than
photos of real people.
Creating scenes is another way to share
how a garden railroad can be appreciated,
even when trains aren’t running. But
when wheels are turning, I like to capture
the action on video. I first started sharing
my videos and photos on various forums- There’s an unexpected visitor at the shelter along the Appalachian
Trail. A canopy of red-leaf Japanese maple copies the shelter’s red
roof. The color white is repeated in the pale bluets, the white-
blooming sweet woodruff, and the lichen patches on boulders. - In the thick of the forest, a scratchbuilt Class A Climax yields to an emerging yellow crocus.