The Solanum family includes over 1500 species hence the confusion. Try to get the specific name. I tussle with Solanum Dulcamara every year and I swear it's trying to kill me.

Are these plants or seeds Barbara? TBH I'd be cautious of buying from either of the 'well known German supermarkets' the plants are treat so badly.

I have found that some of the plants from supermarkets are good value. I bought some pansies in the autumn and potted them on singularly and they have been fantastic. But MG is quite right, the supermarkets do not look after their plants and are quite happy to let them dry out rather than water them or leave tender plants out in the cold winds. Having said, they are worth buying if you can find them when they have been freshly delivered. As regards the height of plants, every growing nursery seems to have its own idea as the the final height or certain species.

Agree Jimmy, if you can buy the plants on the day of delivery but, even then, has the HGV they've travelled in had suitable conditions for them? Common sense it the biggest tool when buying from any supermarket. GCs are, at times, not much better but if you can get to a good, old fashioned nursery that is focussed on plants not selling cream cakes and cups of fancy coffee you're on to a winner generally.

A neighbour has a lovely mature one that reaches over the fence at about 7ft. They do nothing to it & it looks lovely every year. I would say check the variety & take a chance as they do sell very cheaply so not a lot if it fails & many have posted that they've had success growing from such sources.

I agree about taking care about supermarket buys of plants, but having said that they do have some bargains and I have bought some very successful plants from them. The only thing I do beware of are bulbs and bare-rooted plants as these are often really dried out, so check carefully. In all cases it's 'buyer beware', even the garden centres don't always look after plants perfectly - lumping them all together in a glorious display and watering them all together regardless of individual needs.
You only have to look at their skips of wilted and dying plants to see the wasteage that they are prepared to accept.
Ideally we would all love to buy from a friendly local nursery, but they are few and far between and the lure of a bargain can't be denied some times!
As for the Solanum, it will probably be the most common one which I grow to cover an old Leylandii hedge. It's probably 12 ft tall which is fine for me, but when it spreads outwards where I don't want it - I just hack it off! It doesn't seem to mind about that at all.

One of the gardens I look after has a problem - next door has one of these and its been there for years and years. Its got a trunk like a tree, and that trunk is about 9 feet high - when the growths get going, they all come over the fence and drown all the plants in the garden I do. Fence has been replaced with 9 foot one with trellis on top, but the blasted stuff still comes over.... but that's after years, obviously, so 2 metres is probably its height after 3-5 years rather than its ultimate height.

If it's a solanum with lilac flowers, it could well be S. crispum 'Glasnevin' which grows to six metres.

Apologies if you've heard this before.

Sixteen years ago, my wife bought a climbing rose from a DIY store. I told her she'd wasted her money as DIY store plants don't do well.

Three years later, and for several years after, I was dead-heading over 200 flowers at a time.

You just can't tell and sadly paying through the nose to some 'specialist' isn't always a guarantee.

But, to try and stay on the point. In my experience, garden centres and the like don't want to put anything on the plant label that might deter buyers. Saying a plant is going to get really big might not be what most people want to be told.

Saying a plant is going to get really big may not be what the potential customer wants to read but at least it is honest. GC's aren't there to serve the customer anymore they are there to line their pockets any way they can! A specialist nursery on the other hand will want the potential buyer to know exactly what they are getting into as in two or three years time they could come back and complain.

Ultimately, if you like the look of it Barbarak, and the plant is pretty cheap anyway from the shop, buy it anyway and plant it - you can always remove it when you get fed up with it or if, over the years, it gets too big.

It is Glasnevin. I wanted to plant it on a trellis to compliment a campanula pyramidalis while it grows to its flowering height but I may have to think again as I've just read that they will flower at the same time thus defeating the object. So any suggestion for early flowering climber that stays at about 2 metres welcome

Mine is flowering now and will continue for months. It's a great plant. The trunk is a bit over 2 metres and it flops over an arch.