Now's the Time to Visit Rhododendron Lake

It’s a place people have heard about but many people have never been there to see the Pacific Rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum), a rare plant in British Columbia.

Its BC range is restricted to a few localities in and near Manning Park and two locations on Vancouver Island. Our stand of these wild, beautiful rhododendrons are believed by botanists to belong to a strain that survived the last Ice Age.

Around 1912, George Tranfield, grandson of the first colonial settler and sheep farmer on Lasqueti Island told naturalists about his discovery of Rhododenron Lake.

The 2 hectare (5 acre) grove of pink or large–leaved Rhododendron is located east of the South Englishman River via the Northwest Bay logging road on forestland owned by Island Timberlands LP (formerly MacMillan Bloedel). Permission must be acquired from the gate keeper at the entrance to the logging division. There is a day use fee for this area, payable at the entrance.

Formerly known as Kalmia Lake it was officially renamed in 1978 on the MacMillan Bloedel Recreation Map.

The peak flowering season is in early June.

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Author

Ronda Murdock