I've tried various combinations of these descriptions in order to identify a shrub I have in my garden in the Midlands. It flowers all the summer and the flowers never seem to be dead. The plants is about seven feet tall and stems are upright and are hollow. The florets end in a small white area.
I am often asked what it is but we purchased it from a small garden on the south coast when we lived in Reading and they told us it was a nutmeg tree but thats not what it is!

Hi Notch, I think what you describing is a plant that grows like a weed down here in Cornwall, often called Himalayan honeysuckle, its latin name is Leycesteria formosa. The birds love the seeds this time of year and they grow very readily from these seeds.
Hope that helps, Lannerman

Thank you lannerman you were spot on when I checked the image in wickipedia. So us calling it our nutmeg tree was not so far wrong. It grew in our clay/gravelsoil in Reading for twenty years but when we transferred some to our caravan in Hurley Thames Valley it did not like the damp soil. Not like Himalayan stream sides I suppose. We now have it growing in dry sandy soil in our tiny Midland garden on the edge of an old railway nature reserve trail and it thrives despite a lot of cold north winds.Regards.