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Please help me to identify what grew from ‘erigeron’ seeds

SeahorseFriendSeahorseFriend Posts: 73
in Plants

Hi! I’ve really enjoyed reading this forum as I get used to having a garden for the first time. Thank you all for answering a lot of questions that I didn’t need to ask!

Please can I have some help though in identifying these plants – are they weeds or not? They grew from a packet of seeds I bought online which were supposed to be an azure-coloured erigeron. They don’t look like erigeron to me though.

Even if this is a weed, it’s an attractive one – purple and green foliage, and water drops stay on the surface like pearls. What is it that I’ve been nurturing?





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  • SuesynSuesyn Posts: 642
    Looks like Leycesteria formosa (pheasant berry) to me. Grows into a tall shrub with maroon flowers and berries. The birds love the berries and I have found they pop up all over the place. In fact I think mine was introduced by a bird in the first place, it certainly wasn't anything to do with me. 
  • SeahorseFriendSeahorseFriend Posts: 73

    Oh wow, that must be it, thank you Suesyn! I have a tall leycesteria shrub in the garden but the mature leaves don’t look anything like these seedlings so it never occurred to me. Now I’ve had a closer look at some newer leaves I can see it.

    I don’t think I can really blame the shop that sold me the seeds then, even if they never sprouted!






  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 14,333
    I don't know what it is, but I am sure it isn't Leycestria, it doesn't look anything like it to me.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • B3B3 Posts: 26,421
    They are definitely the same colour as LF seedlings. 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • SeahorseFriendSeahorseFriend Posts: 73

    That confused me too @punkdoc as the seedlings have saw-toothed leaves, but the new growth on the shrub is the same purplish-green colour as @B3 says. And now I've found more seedlings in the patio underneath it, competing with my creeping thyme. Strange because my planter is nowhere near the bush – I blame the birds! Thanks for your help @Suesyn and everyone!


  • B3B3 Posts: 26,421
    The seedlings have a pointier shape than the nature leaves but the ridges and teeth on yours don't look quite right for LF
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,581
    Leycesteria formosa leaves on young plants look nothing like the adult plants.
    It confused me when a friend gave me young plants.
    I was sure she had given me the wrong plant ..but she hadn't.


    SeahorseFriend...yours is already a mass of flowers.
    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • LynLyn Posts: 22,852
    Dose t look like it me either, I can’t see any flowers on Seahorse’s seedlings? 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • B3B3 Posts: 26,421
    I would have expected the leaves on the longer shoots to have looked smoother more like mature leaves
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • LynLyn Posts: 22,852
    B3 said:
    I would have expected the leaves on the longer shoots to have looked smoother more like mature leaves
    So would I @B3
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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