Question
we live in a senior community in Sarasota Florida.  Landscaper
submitted a plan to show a raised bed of vertical posts and labeled it
posts.  He used squares and labeled it a retaining wall of 'posts' of
varying heights for visual effect.  Is there a special symbol for using
RRties?
The 'Board' is making us remove the project because a square is a
symbol for stone?

Answer
There is no specific "railroad" tie symbol.  Showing a piece of dimensional lumber on end (in section view) has, for many years, been conventionally shown as a square with an 'X' through it.

Here is a website with a standard architectural symbol for "rough" dimension lumber:
http://www.free-ed.net/sweethaven/BldgConst/Building01/default.asp?iNum=0102

My Architect's Manual (from the 1920's) even shows it this way - If your landscaper draws an 'X' through the squares OR shows the end-grain, I don't see why your board would have a problem. It is a plan, after all - A diagrammatic representation of a plan for construction; not an artist's rendering.

Also, in all cases when reading architectural drawings, TEXT takes presidents over symbols, line-work, and even dimensions -- legally.

My sympathies for having a community board that is so difficult to work with!  ~Marc