Ronnings Garden
Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

Ronnings Garden

Ronnings Garden is a wilderness garden situated in the forests near Holberg, British Columbia, Canada. The gardens originated in 1910 and is a product of the earliest settlers in the region.

Brent Ronning, the garden architect, was attracted to the region because of a promise by the local government to build a road connecting Port Hardy with Cape Scott. No such road materialized, causing many settlers to leave the area. While others left Brent Ronning stayed and continued to live on the property until the early 1960s.

During the earliest years, Brent Ronning cleared over 5 acres of land to plant his own wilderness garden of dreams. A garden created from seeds and clippings of exotic plants and trees he ordered from all around the world.

He earned his living working as a fisherman and trapper, even sometimes as a camp cook. But his passion was his garden which later became named Ronnings Garden. As the years past, the garden continued to grow in size and variety. Often people would stop in to visit while on route to Cape Scott or Raft Cove.

In the 1970s, after Brent left this world, the garden was left temporarily unattended. Years of neglect enabled the west coast brush and trees to grow over the gardens. Eventually the hundreds of flowers shriveled away and Ronnings Garden showed signs of disappearing.

The efforts of some of the locals, after seeing this treasure beginning to decay, stepped up. The locals began to bring the gardens back to life. Some of the highlights of Ronnings Garden is the twisted Monkey Trees. The trees mark the entrance to Brent Ronnings home. The trails are cleared and zig-zag throughout the historic homestead.

How to Get to Ronnings Gardens

Ronnings Garden is available for viewing to the public. It can be found off of the gravel road leading to Cape Scott Provincial Park. It is a 1 1/2 hour drive to the gardens from Port Hardy. Once at the parking area, it is only a short 15 minute walk to the gardens.