Years ago, we snagged a bit of a creeping, smooth ivy with elegant little purple orchid-like flowers from a wall at Castle Campbell, Scotland. (We brought it back here, Yes I know one is Not supposed to do that, Bad, bad, very bad)  Sadly, it died since we didn’t plant it in a wall but in a nice bit of soil.

Then we found it again, growing with exceeding abandon at Innisfree Gardens in New York. So we misbehaved again and tucked a little bit into the steps by the west kitchen door, nice old crumbling stone steps.  It made it, quite happily, through the winter and is now growing and blooming, and looks like it will have to be trimmed off the various sedums in the area.  Not a particular problem, I already trim the thyme and such.

Any guesses?

It is this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbalaria_muralis  also known as Kenilworth Ivy or Ivy Leaved Toadflax

Will it probably be excessively happy? Probably. But much less of an issue than Gill-over-the-ground, which makes up most of the lawn here; since the toadflax has already shown that it doesn’t care to compete in the lawn (this year’s growing shoots are actively turning away from the grass and heading back over the stones), unlike Gill-over-the-ground.