The start of my garden railroad, its origin story if you will, traces back to a Barnes and Noble cafe. Back when my wife, Sharon, and I were starting to look for our first house, we would pass many an evening at the bookstore. It was like a library but with late night caffeine. After perusing the shelves, we would usually grab a couple of magazines to look through with our drinks. We collected ideas of what we wanted in our house. Beautiful light, brightly colored walls, hardwood floor. As we found pictures that we liked we would buy the magazine and save the pictures. Still have the scrapbook. And the house might have echoes of a few of those ideas. We also dreamed of gardens. Sharon, growing up in the big city, could count the plants she had on one hand. The plants, not the types. In response, she had the gardening bug. We looked at grand estates. And little porch gardens, Anything with color overlaying a lush green foundation. One evening while picking through the garden mag...