Hi y'all...I just moved to the UK a few months ago and my English boyfriend and I are renting a fabulous cottage outside Basingstoke. It has a tremendous garden and we have spent a good part of the spring and early summer trying to figure out what is growing there.

Just recently, under the beautiful rose bushes in front of the house, some low-growing ground cover with serated semi-broad leaves started covering one side of a bed. Since the people who lived here before us were obviously veteran gardeners, we think it might be something to keep since it is so pervasive along that bed's border.

I brought a sample cutting to a garden centre here, but no one was able to identify it. In the past week, it has started sending out long viney shoots with bright blue star-shaped flowers. We thought it might be borage, and the leaves evidence of strawberries, but we are at a loss.

Other than these beautiful blue flowers, nothing else has budded on these plants, so I can't be sure they are actually strawberries. Are they weeds? Are they food? We have no idea. But they grow like crazy and soon take over the bed if not kept in line.

We have looked EVERYWHERE online to try to identify the blue flowers and the closest are the borage, but not quite. The leaves do not have a scent of cucumber.

Does anyone know of a good site where we can search for images of flowers...even the comprehensive gardening books don't have any images similar to what we're seeing.

We also are growing our first crop of vegetables and herbs, and are enjoying finding new plants budding and sprouting throughout this little piece of heaven. We look forward to participating and learning more from all of you.

Most sincerely,
Elektra