Anytime you are on Holberg Road, you must stop to visit Ronnings Garden. These gardens are beautiful and a must-stop for travellers heading further west from Holberg. In 1910 Bernt Ronning was a young settler from Norway who had homesteaded 5 acres of land, he never left when most others had and lived here until the 1960s. He was known far and wide for his incredible gardens of rare plants and trees.
Bernt Ronning immigrated to Canada from Norway in 1910 and carved a homestead out of the wilderness on the north end of Vancouver Island, his home was along the original wagon road that went from Holberg to Cape Scott. Being an avid gardener, he even set up a garden fair at San Josef Bay that ran for many years. He was very interested in music and had a big pump organ and in his home, he would have get-togethers where other settlers would travel from miles around to join in the fun and dance the night away. The restored road that you walk on as you hike into the gardens is part of the old wagon road.
Ronnings Wilderness Garden is located in the forests near Holberg. The gardens were created by Bernt Ronning who was attracted to the region by its beauty and of a promise by the government to build a proper road that would connect Port Hardy to Cape Scott. The road was never built and many settlers pulled up stakes and left the area, but not Bernt Ronning, he continued to live on the property until the early 1960’s.
Bernt cleared over 5 acres of land and planted a beautiful wilderness garden on these acres. He created this garden from seeds, clones of exotic plants and trees that he ordered from all around the world. He planted trees and garden beds on the flats and terraced gardens on the hillside behind his house. It was a work of love and from what I hear, they were beautiful back in the early days and could compete with any of the world gardens.
Bernt earned his living working as a fisherman and in the winter months as a trapper up in the Raft Cove area. Occasionally he would go logging and even did a stint as a camp cook, but his passion was his garden which later became known as Ronnings Garden. As the years passed, the garden continued to grow in size and variety. Many folks would stop in to visit while en route to one of the many beaches on the northwest shores of Vancouver Island just to marvel at the garden. Many brought in clippings of plants as gifts to add to his gardens.
In the 1960’s, Bernt could not continue and had to leave his gardens, then in 1963, Bernt passed away and the garden was left unattended, years of neglect allowed the west coast brush and trees to grow over the gardens. Over the next few years, the flowers began to die and the garden beds became overgrown, Ronnings Garden had almost disappeared.
Then along comes Ron and Julia Moe, they realized what was happening to the garden and took up the challenge to bring the gardens back to life again. This was 37 years ago and they are still at it, thanks to this wonderful couple, we can still visit Bernt’s incredible gardens.
Now the gardens are beautiful again, the trails are all cleared and Bernt’s hard work is again thriving. You must visit the gardens when you are on the north island. As you walk around the gardens, you can not help but think of the work that was put in to create this wonder. Some of the highlights of Ronnings Garden are the twisted Monkey Trees. These trees mark the entrance to Brent Ronnings’ home, I have not seen any other samples anywhere that are as big as the ones that were planted by Bernt.
The trails are cleared and you can spend hours meandering throughout the historic homestead. You might even get to meet Ron and Julia, on my last visit, I finally met Ron and had a wonderful chat with him and a carpenter from Alice Lake whose name now eludes me. Julia was absent as she had just broken her ankle and was unable to be there. Maybe on my next visit, I might get the pleasure of chatting with her.