Little marvels huge hit with garden lovers

The short stroll through an avenue of cherry trees brings the eager garden lovers to the sweet colonial family home.
Then they look around and the manicured property opens up to a traditional and well-structured English-style garden _ including climbing roses and white doves.
The tranquil garden has been a labour of love for Bridget and John Little for 30 years and it was one of 90 paraded to the public during the Bayleys Garden and Artfest at the weekend.
The garden at the Littlefarm property in Pyes Pa is sectioned off by rows of low box (buxus) hedging, brick walls and steps. Mr Little likes to call them "outdoor rooms". And providing the decoration are the 50 topiary bushes with their geometric and animal shapes.
Mr Little, an architectural designer, will reshape the topiaries twice a year.
"I use electric shears with the cord and the trick is not to cut the electric cable. It takes me three to four days to get around the whole garden," he said.
Over the years, the Littles have collected 30,000 recycled bricks from all over the North Island to complete the walls and steps. Mr Little reckons he's handled every one of them although he organised tradespeople to lay them.
In one of the ``outdoor rooms'' is a restored colonial lamp standard he spotted on the back of a truck while driving down Cameron Rd one day. He stopped the driver and talked him into handing it over for $200.
A big Phoenix palm stands proudly to one side next to the grass tennis court and croquet lawn, while in the centre is the Littles' coup de grace _ the three-tiered entertainment area, sheltered by brick and concrete walls.
The lowest level has the dovecote and large dining table, the middle level is taken up by the specimen topiary bushes and at the top there's enough room for a small marquee, where staff from Alimento Caf? served coffee and food to visitors at the weekend.
The Littles have opened their garden for every one of the five biennial festivals _ and it's always been one of the most popular.
"People like coming back here to see how the garden has developed," said Mr Little. "The symmetry is what I've been fastidious about and we have tried to make the garden synonymous with early New Zealand _ the gardens were structured in those days."
The Littles' endless work caught the eye of an Australian film crew and the garden will feature on Channel Nine's Gardening Guru programme.
The Garden and Artfest has become a nationally-recognised event and more than 8000 people visited the variety of gardens spread over a wide area, from Kauri Point north of Katikati through Tauranga to Te Puke.
There were 45 new gardens featured in this year's festival. It's become a lovely, iconic event for the region _ just like the Montana Jazz Festival, Mr Little said. "I wouldn't leave town for anything when these festivals are on. I just think it's fantastic for the city and it brings in plenty of dollars and visitors."