Is this a pretty weed or an actual plant...?

[SheWhoMustBe]

About a meter high. I've been going with it to see how it comes out but I'm starting to think weed?

Oh I have this but don't know what it's called, I treat it as a plant.

Do you like it? Then it's a plant.

Weeds are just flowers nobody loves

Except Japanese knotweed which is a threat to the ecology.

Thanks all! I'm going to leave it but keep a close eye on it. I like it now but i may not be so keen in two years when it's staged a massive garden takeover

I have this, I think it is Linaria Purpurea, which is a variety of toadflax and a British wildflower.

I love it, it doesn't take over, it is fabulously elegant and pretty, and the bees adore it. Easy to pull out if you don't want it, but I leave nearly all of it in the places where it self sows.

I agree with traviata, it is a lovely plant and I let it self seed freely. You can buy the seeds on Crocus, so I'd leave it be

Its a linaria, does it have purple flowers or pink? Ive got a pink variety (Canon Arthur Went I think) and its fab, bees love it and it flowers for ages. It's just coming into flower now.

Yes, linaria. I think the common or garden variety is purple - and some people treat it as a weed, depending on whether or not they like it - and then there are cultivated, pink varieties like Canon Went.

I'm thrilled if that's what this is! It is indeed shallow rooted, flowers seem to be purple (not fully out yet) and as for seeding freely we do have a few others popping up (hence the concern it was a weed). But linaria looks like a lovely plant, happy to have it.
Thanks to everyone for your help.
(MairzyDoats - best username ever...We proved that a Kiddleativytoo today when my DD was helping with the weeding...)

Heh heh, you got it!

We have this in our garden too, it is really pretty and self-seeds a lot. No trouble to thin out though, and we leave it to do its own thing. Every now and again we get the occasional spontaneous pink one as well.