A must-see on the way to San Jo! 

Tucked deep in the forest near Cape Scott on northern Vancouver Island lies one of the island’s most magical secrets — Ronning’s Garden.
It’s not just a garden; it’s a living story — a place where nature and human care have intertwined for over a century.

Long before the roads were built, a Dutch settler named Bernt Ronning arrived here in the early 1900s. He carved out a small homestead in what was then pure wilderness, and over the decades, he transformed a patch of rainforest into a tropical oasis — importing seeds and plants from around the world.

Today, the garden still blooms — a testament to time, resilience, and the power of one man’s vision to grow beauty in the middle of nowhere.

Ronning's Garden can be reached by a ten-minute walk along a restored section of the old San Josef Wagon Road. From Port Hardy, follow the signs to Holberg, then take the San Josef Main towards Cape Scott Provincial Park, and look for the turnoff to the Garden between kilometer markers 14 and 15.