Semiaquilegia

[ChrisB]

Hi,  Was down to Hampshire on the weekend and found a semiaquilegia 'Australian Form' at Hardy's.  No flowers on the plant, but it looks very sturdy.  Googled it and it looks like it may be a form of ecalcarata, but it has pale pink flowers so I'm not sure.  Does anyone grow this, and do you know its proper name?

[Diane Clement]

Hi,  Was down to Hampshire on the weekend and found a semiaquilegia 'Australian Form' at Hardy's.  No flowers on the plant, but it looks very sturdy.  Googled it and it looks like it may be a form of ecalcarata, but it has pale pink flowers so I'm not sure.  Does anyone grow this, and do you know its proper name?   

Yes, it's a pale pink form of Semiaquilegia ecalcarata selected in Australia.  The name is correct as

Semiaquilegia ecalcarata 'Australian'

(although some people now include Semiaquilegia back into Aquilegia.)

[ChrisB]

Thanks Diane, I'll replace my label.  Looks like a nice plant!

[fermi de Sousa]

Selcted by who?
cheers
fermi

[ChrisB]

Wish I knew.  Must be some history of it somewhere....

[Diane Clement]

Selcted by who?
cheers  fermi 

Fermi, I hoped you were going to tell us ...

[Great Moravian]

http://www.desirableplants.com/page23.html
wrote
Unusual pale pink (and rather shorter) strain of the spurless
mini-columbine, introduced from Aussie cultivation by Rosy and Rob Hardy.   
Grows and flowers as easily as the normal sort, unlike that infuriating
bicolor which I swear has been genetically engineered to fail on any nursery
more than 5 miles from Caernarvon...

[ChrisB]

Thanks Josef,  the wealth of information available from forum participants never ceases to amaze me!