Bambo like plant

Hello all,

This is all new to me so pls excuse my ignorance. A dear friend of mine gave me this plant as she no longer wanted it and thought it would be great for me. I have a gap that needs filling and she said that this bambo like plant grows really tall and

has lovely red flowers on it. She has cut it right back adn I have planted them, added some pics if I can work out how to upload them. Does anyone have any idea just what this is. I have looked at Knotweed but the ones I have do not have red marks around the bambo stems, Please help if you can xx

I think it's Leycesteria Formosa, also known as Himalayan Honeysuckle.  It can grow quite large but you can prune it hard.

Hi MuddyFork, also known as Pheasant Berry....I had looked at the earlier today when I googled it, is this correct? Guess I will have to wait and see what she grows into next year, thanks x

As always there are loads of common names, that's why the latin names are best.  Pheasant Berry is another name for this plant.

MuddyFork is right, but it is managable and the leaves take on a chocolate tinge around the edges in the autumn.There are bunches of little white flowers in spring but the performance of the plant is in the autumn when the flowers turn into grapelike bunches of burgundy. The birds love them and the plant provides wonderful colour in winter. Enjoy it .

Oh thanks for the replies, have added another pic and just wanted to ask if I should just leave this as it is or do I need to cut it back any shorter. I was given 3 and I have planted them about 2ft apart with the middle one only having about 5 stems. Have no idea how to look after this, any tips would be great, thanks x

I would leave them as is for now.  In spring cut about half of the stems down to ground level and new stems will grow from the base.  The ones you leave will shoot from buds along their length

Oh great thank you Muddyfork, I have felt under the gravel so will have to cut around each one again to give them a bit more room to grow.

Definitely Leycesteria formosa. It's a lovely plant but it can self-seed quite a bit, so watch out for plants where you don't want them. They're easy to remove when young, so not a great worry. The flowers are small and white and don't last all that long, but they're held in lovely dark red bracts that last for ages.

I can see a few dead bits in the pics - cut these out now while you can see them easily, then each spring (might not be needed next year) cut out the oldest stems at ground level. If they get too big, cut out more.

They lose their leaves in winter but the stems stay that lovely bright green, which looks really good. Happy growing!