In article m,
ElektraUK writes
Thanks, everyone, for their replies. I checked out the different
flowers you named, as well as the great website with flower pics (have
that one in my favorites now).

The flowers you have named are not the same as what we are seeing. The
petals of the smallish (1 inch) flowers we have are very pointed--it
really looks like bright blue starfish growing along a vine-like stem
among a sea of green serated ground cover.

Our neighbor has a similar patch growing along a rock wall, but they do
not know what it is either. We haven't seen it anywhere else in the
garden, so we don't think it's a weed. Hmmm, a garden mystery!

I have another one:

We have a large shrub (about 6 ft high) with large (3 inch) bright
yellow blooms. The flowers cluster in threes, but open at different
times. They each have 5 rounded petals, with a conical tube-like
stamen jutting out from a yellow hairy center. The shrub is just now
bursting with blossoms, but before it ever re-greened after winter, it
had a spell of flowers in late winter. No scent to the flowers, and
the shrub sends out runners along the bottom. Haven't been able to
identify it in the usual manner.

Hypericum? But that's too obvious an answer, so probably not.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"