Could be a spotted orchid. The wild ones have finished flowering round here. I was going to ask when you took the photo, then spotted the date - it's very late flowering if it is an orchid. It's looking very happy where you've got it.

Thanks for your response Beattie, my brother said it was a wild orchid and that it was a protected species. Two more small clumps have appeared in another two tubs.

Lucky you! They obviously like you :-)

Nothing to do with the birds though, Sheilar. The seed is very fine and is more likely to have blown in with the wind. In which case, this orchid should be growing wild near to your garden.

It is one of the Dactylorhizas possibly D fuchsii the common spotted as this colonises new areas easily. Snag with this particular family is they are extremely promiscuous and interbreed like mad making them very difficult to i.d. If my orchid book is to be believed they should still be flowering now Beattie.

I don't think it is dark enough for D. purpurella, the northern marsh orchid, which is also flowering now.

I go for a walk on the cliffs with friends every Monday morning and before our holiday which took up most of June they were flowering. Yesterday I looked for them and they were over.

You are a lot further south and west so the flowering season would be earlier Beattie. Just checked the book again and it says mid May to early August depending on where you live. the 'book' by the way is Orchids of Britain & Ireland a Field and Site Guide and extremely detailed.

Derr! Of course Moon grower! Thanks :-)

I too have this plant which is still in flower in Yorkshire, it has been growing in an old sink for 3 years, terrific and I think under rated plant.