No idea what it could be.

2 possibilities come to mind:
1.) Penstemon of some kind
2.) Physostegia

Calsurf73 said:2 possibilities come to mind:
1.) Penstemon of some kind
2.) Physostegia

I'm not familiar with those, are they perennials? Soon frost will be coming and eventually snow.

The leaves look alternate to me, despite the very congested growth giving the impression of them being opposite. Could you confirm? Also, what is the size of the pot?
I think both penstemon and obedient plant (Physostegia) are very unlikely.
The stem looks sheathed where the leaf is attached; that and the appearance of the shoots suggest Polygonum to me.

It's winter and the plant has bare branches, so it must be some tree or shrub!

Now I'm puzzled! My guess still is Japanese Maple

Here is a Spring photo, it's thriving! It has to be a tree or shrub right?

For some reason it reminds me of an Aster

hey Keith. What did the tag in the pot have written on it? Might be a clue to what this is.

Moonhowl said:hey Keith. What did the tag in the pot have written on it? Might be a clue to what this is.

That's a recycled pot. This plant wasn't brought, its seed found its way into the pot and started growing in it. I had gotten mixed seeds sent to me from a member but this doesn't match any of them, the other plants that grew were correct. Whatever this is was mixed in.

I was just wondering if perhaps it may have been a seed from what was there originally...and could have been fasciated or otherwise mutated.

It definitely doesn't appear to be Japanese Maple. My first thought was that it reminded me of Abelia but I really have no idea. Here are a couple of Abelia images for comparison:

http://www.bing.com/images/sea...
http://www.bing.com/images/sea...

Moonhowl said:I was just wondering if perhaps it may have been a seed from what was there originally...and could have been fasciated or otherwise mutated.

I had feverfew and bull thistle.

plantladylin said:It definitely doesn't appear to be Japanese Maple. My first thought was that it reminded me of Abelia but I really have no idea. Here are a couple of Abelia images for comparison:

http://www.bing.com/images/sea...
http://www.bing.com/images/sea...

One image for pure green looked similar but the plant will have to get bigger to tell.

keithp2012 said:One image for pure green looked similar but the plant will have to get bigger to tell.

I agree, and once you see blooms, an exact identification should be possible.

Guess what, the plant looks exactly the same, just slightly bigger, and no blooms or anything!? Got to be the weirdest plant ive seen!

Still can't Id?

Any recent photos to show how it's matured?

plantladylin said:Any recent photos to show how it's matured?

It looks the same just wider and stem got thicker. No blooms or color change or anything?

Wow, amazing that there's been no change since last October; I wonder if growth could be stunted do to it being containerized? I still don't have a clue but I'm really not good at identifying plants so hopefully now that it's bumped back up to the top of the forum other members will see it and offer suggestions.

plantladylin said:Wow, amazing that there's been no change since last October; I wonder if growth could be stunted do to it being containerized? I still don't have a clue but I'm really not good at identifying plants so hopefully now that it's bumped back up to the top of the forum other members will see it and offer suggestions.

I repotted it this year to a large pot as its roots grew long so the pot isn't stunting it apparently.