ROBBINSDALE, MN — Mike Heger, owner at Ambergate Horticulture Consulting in Waconia, MN, knows perennials and he impressed close to 60 enthusiastic gardeners, here, with his extensive plant knowledge during his presentation, “Best Performing Perennials for Zones 3 & 4” at the Hennepin County Horticultural Society’s April meeting.

Diana Straate, president at the Hennepin County Horticultural Society in Minnesota and Mike Heger, horticulture consultant, author and presenter at the HCHS spring meeting.“Mike is so very knowledgeable and obviously very passionate about what he does — he’s just a wonderful resource,” said Diana Straate, HCHS president. “The little tips he had were really great — the soil requirements and the light requirements — all the tips he’s learned from his trade.”

Heger began his career in 1972 as an assistant gardener at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and spent 15 years there managing plant displays.

From 1985 to 2013, Heger and his wife owned and operated a niche perennial nursery, Ambergate Gardens, which focused on special interest plants. He has authored “Perennials A to Z,” published a series in Minnesota Horticulturist and co-authored “Growing Perennials in Cold Climates.”

With over 40 years of experience in both public and private horticulture, Heger now spends his time lecturing, writing and consulting on issues related to gardening in northern regions.

Interestingly, 16 of the 36 best performing garden perennials that Heger described in his presentation are also sold as cut flowers or greens in the floral industry, including peonies, Salvia, iris, Campanula, daylilies, phlox, Astilbe, Sedum, Allium, Hosta, Solomon’s Seal, etc.

“A lot of those perennials are kind of dual purpose — they are landscape plants but also many of them make pretty good cut flowers,” Heger said.

“In fact, I was out doing some pruning today and I cut a couple of big branches off of a magnolia to bring into the house,” he added.

Heger told The Produce News that his top five perennials for northern climates include:

• Peonies

• Daylilies (“They’re such workhorses for sun.”)

• Hostas for shade

• Hardy Cranesbill geranium (“Not the annual one, but the true perennial geraniums.”)

• Gas plants (“It’s another cut flower but it’s a bugaboo to produce commercially, so it’s never gotten wide distribution.”)

“There’s another sleeper, a native prairie plant called Wild Quinine, that is superb in the landscape and once again a tremendous cut flower. There’s a plant that’s got cut flower potential in the industry,” said Heger.

“I don’t know if anyone’s producing that in field-grown situations but it’s tough as nails, with white flowers,” he continued. “In addition to flowering weeks and weeks on end in the landscape, you can cut it and bring it into the house — it’s beautiful that way too. It hasn’t gotten the recognition that it deserves but it is certainly a top notch perennial for this climate.”