Paul Heiberger's enthusiasm for trains began with a model set placed in the basement of his family's home and would run around the Christmas tree each year. That fascination with locomotives developed through adulthood, with Heiberger acquiring all kinds of trains, visiting train shows and building on his growing collection.
After seeing the large outdoor railroad in the German pavilion at Disney World's Epcot Center in Florida, Heiberger had an idea.
"I have our garden and I could have a railroad outside," he said. "So, I started researching it."
Heiberger and his wife, Sharon, had already carefully crafted gardens abundant with bushes, trees, flowers and plants around their home's property west of Jefferson City. The addition of an elaborate railroad garden with multiple scenes and trains that could run simultaneously paired Heiberger's love of trains with the couple's passion for gardening. As a result, the Heibergers now have earned the Bittersweet Garden Club's July Garden of the Month award.
"Paul and Sharon Heiberger make great use of all areas of their property, turning each one into a beautiful garden area," said Linda Block, 2018 Garden of the Month committee chairman, later adding, "The grooming and the maintenance of all these garden beds prove the love and pride that the Heibergers have for their home and its surroundings."
For many years, the couple was unable to produce a home garden of their own. Both Pennsylvania natives, the couple frequently moved following graduation while Heiberger spent nine years working full time for the U.S. Navy. Before retiring with the rank of E-6, Heiberger earned Sailor of the Year.
While stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, Heiberger interviewed with Union Electric, now Ameren, to work for the Callaway Plant, which is a nuclear generating station about 25 miles north of Jefferson City. After moving to the state capital in 1981, Sharon also began working with the State of Missouri, serving as a Medicaid technician for 15 years before retiring. Heiberger retired in 2010, acting as a consultant until last November.
The couple didn't wait until retirement to delve into beautifying their home's landscape. While raising their three children, the Heibergers first got into gardening at their first home in Jefferson City.
"We had a lot of trial and error doing the gardening, trying different things," Heiberger said. "Then we moved over here, and we had more space, getting into it more."
The couple moved into their current home in 2007, and started their gardening projects with the front of their home.
"The bed there is full of beautiful shrubs, bushes and flowers all very well planned in where they are planted," Block said. In addition, small statues, a veteran's marker and an American flag also compliment the colorful, vibrant space. "It is very well groomed."
After landscaping along the side of the house to the garage, they decided to buy a lot next to their home that was heavy with trees.
"We went through that tree lot and put ribbons around the ones we wanted to keep. I'm a tree hugger," Sharon said with laughter. "I would like to plant more trees over there but he likes his grass."
Heiberger smiled and then described how the couple developed a garden, complete with a stone walkway and beds of flowers and plants that add to this area's serenity and beauty.
"We have tried to do a lot with annuals that come back every year. We arrange them by height or when they are going to bloom so you have it planned and don't have one area that blooms and then nothing the rest of the year," he said. "We spread it out and have it where something blooms all year long."
After finding out someone was looking to purchase the property on the other side of their home, they decided to buy it as well, using this third lot to begin the railroad garden. The Heibergers also planted a berm in the back and it progressively grew, making it set and ready to go by the time they started constructing the railroad garden in 2009.
The expansive train set is complete with hills, mountains and tunnels that allow a lengthy track to weave and circle through multiple scenes, levels and two large areas of the garden that has a walkway through its center. Three trains can run independently at all times on the track, with a fourth available by switching tracks during its run.
"I created a small time city with a train depot, a family farm designed after Sharon's family farm, a rural town (complete with conifers and shrubs as landscape) similar to where my father was born and a logging camp where they log trees," Heiberger said, noting many of the buildings are named after family names and important locations in their history. "I recently added a coal mine, so there is industry out there."
It takes Heiberger roughly two hours to set it up, as many of its buildings and parts are made from wood and cannot withstand the sun and other weather conditions if outside 24-7. However, Heiberger enjoys showcasing the railroad garden for friends and family, neighbors and as a stop on the 2015 Bittersweet Garden Club annual garden tour.
"That was quite an experience. People walked behind the house and they didn't leave," Heiberger said with a smile. "We had about 400-plus people here at one time. We have a walkway up the middle of the set and you couldn't walk in there; it was crammed with people. Sharon was trying to bring me water and she had to get up on the curb to bring it to me."
The captivation with the Heibergers' railroad garden is complimented by its many other landscaped areas, including its newest addition - container gardens at the back of the property. Sharon has had fun putting the perennials there, finding different colors and types that jump out and catch your eye, Heiberger said. It also serves a dual purpose for Sharon.
"I got tired of not being able to see my gardens so I did a garden out back where I can sit on the porch and look at it. Otherwise, to see the other ones, I have to get up and walk around," she said with a laugh.
The Heibergers enjoy their large maple trees they planted that give a bright red hue in the fall, the abundance of lilies sprinkled throughout their garden areas and the unique wild flowers like the black-eyed susan and "zig-zag hogwart" that blooms blue-purplish flowers in the spring, as described by Heiberger.
Even though they may not create any additional large spaces, they enjoy how they designed their diverse, unique home landscape and pleasantly surprised they received the July Garden of the Month honor.
"We don't have any large flowering gardens, but we like the layout," she said.