The Pinkham Garden Eclipse, Virginia

The Pinkham Garden Eclipse, Virginia

- Stephie Broadwater & Karen Cauthen Ellsworth

For one week in April, more than 26,000 visitors tour beautiful private homes and gardens across Virginia in what has been called America’s Largest Open House. Presented by the Garden Club of Virginia, Historic Garden Week encompasses 29 distinct tours organized and hosted by member clubs. The Nansemond River Garden Club, the Elizabeth River Garden Club and the Franklin Garden Club are collaborating to showcase the waterways of north Suffolk– the Chuckatuck and Bleakhorn Creeks, the Nansemond and James Rivers. Among these is the quaint village of Eclipse, a region known for oystering, fishing, farming and boat building.

Historic Garden Week visitors will appreciate the history and culture of this picturesque area while enjoying access to a variety of private homes and nationally recognized gardens. One of them, owned by Linda and Bill Pinkham, is highlighted on this year’s Suffolk tour. The Pinkham garden is a horticultural gem filled with both native and non-native species, many of which are rare and difficult to procure and grow. In addition to a stunning view of Batten Bay and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel in the distance, Historic Garden Week visitors will see peonies, a profusion of bulbs and colorful spring-blooming shrubs.

Visitors to the Pinkhams’ garden walk through outdoor rooms that transition from secret corners to vast vistas of the river with sculpture and plantings at every turn. The Pinkhams are passionate plant collectors: She is a horticulturalist and he studied landscape design. They met in the horticulture program at Virginia Tech. After owning and operating Smithfield Gardens for more than 30 years, they decided to focus on their own property in 2002. Their business was well known throughout the Hampton Roads area and had been a destination for serious gardeners and seekers of unusual plants.