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Mystery shrub
This plant or shrub has mysteriously appeared in the garden. I don't remember planting it, or seeing it before, and I can't find it in my notebook of things I've planted. Before I pull it out, I'd like to know what it is, in case it's interesting or useful.
It grew very quickly and is now about three feet tall with arching stems.
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Leycesteria formosa - Himalayan honeysuckle, also known as Himalayan nutmeg. The bracts are usually a bit more reddish than in your picture, but that's what it is.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It certainly looks like it. If the bracts stay pale instead of going deep red, you may have a new form. I would hang on to it and give it some space, the typical plant will grow to 2m, with as much spread. The berries are edible and said to be caramel flavoured, but I wasn't impressed. The birds love them.
I have only ever seen the dark flowered ones. There is a golden leaf form but still with dark flowers and fruits. White one is lovely.
A couple of the redder ones seeded themselves in my garden a few years ago and now I have several. I love them and use them as a kind of non-invasive bamboo! Lucky you!
Save some seed Liz
I fancy a white one. I wonder if the babies will be white
In the sticks near Peterborough
i agree, i have a lovely red one, at the moment full of starlings gorging. i looks good most of the year so keep it if yyou have space. i would really like a white one, it looks slightly more delicate than the red. will grow fast, and is seeded readilly by birds; i regularly pick them out of my paths and pots. maybe i should leave a few and see if i get a different form?
I suppose non-invasive compared to bamboo V. I find that each plant gets quite big and seeds itself everywhere but the plant itself doesn't run mad as an individual!
Also, Liz88 I know we haven't "met" but pleeeease may I have some seed if the starlings leave any? I love it!
Oh, that's interesting, thanks all. A neighbour gave us the red-flowered one and we thought the flower/bract of this looked the same shape, but when I googled last night, all I could see were the red/pink flowers. I didn't see any pics with white flowers. I should have added white to my search. I will have to think where it can go, although as it happens, it has landed in the shady border between the house and the fence, where almost all the flowers are white. We have bird feeders and lots of birds in season, but there's never been any reason for them to look in the shady border before. Tx again. (There are only three flower/bracts on it just now, so maybe not so many seeds this year!)
It is clearly happy in your shady white border so do make sure it gets similar shade if you move it. They usually like full sun or partial shade so maybe yours is pale because it's in shade but it may also be a new form.
It is unlikely to come true from its own seed but it's worth trying. Best to nurture it and try and propagate from softwood cuttings in late spring or early summer.