Here's Theora's comment, posted and then lost because Blogger got sick yesterday and ate a lot of comments.
"Is it spiky? Maybe a baby japanese/european barberry."
She's right! It's almost certainly something called Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea. I have a couple of those shrubs in the front yard -- planted by The Husband a long time ago, as in possibly 20 yrs ago. They are pretty but I now know they are invasive. Although I wouldn't say they are highly invasive since this is the first time in 20 years that a volunteer plant has appeared.
Get rid of all of these - highly invasive landscape plant that is an intermediate host for deer ticks. btw, if you break a twig the inside will be bright yellow if it is Japanese barberry.
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