just walking the dog and other people's gardens

I have discovered that having a dog is a good opportunity to indulge my nosiness/curiosity, in particular that of other people's houses.  Sadly I am the kind of person who cannot resist looking in people's windows, which is why our own window (which is straight onto the pavement) is frosted, so others like me can't see into our oh so tidy and orderly house!

but recent dog walking has taken us down streets we have never ventured down even after 9 years of living in Penzance and what lovely flowers everyone grows!  Our own small yard is a very sad and neglected place partly because it is not a very usable space, partly because Jason and Annis do all our veg growing elsewhere and partly because we like to spend a lot of time out on the beaches, cliffs and other wilder places.  But this year, as our family outgrows the house, we have decided to make our outdoor space a little nicer mainly so Jason and I can escape out there on summer evenings and pretend we are a couple again!!

so with this in mind I have been nosing into other people's gardens while dog walking.  The trouble is, most of what I like has grown accidentally, like this beautiful heart of flowers that was growing out of a neglected wall.

I absolutely love this tree, I have no idea what it is (being a non gardening sort of person) but there are an awful lot of them around here and they are the most beautiful blue.  I am hoping that one of you knowledgeable peeps will know the name of it...

this also looked a little abandoned, I think an abandoned garden might actually be my design plan!

You see all my pics are of slightly overgrown gardens and plants

and finally more wall stuff.  What I would like to know is why doesn't such beauty grow in our own abandoned, neglected stone work??  Do I actually have to plant something out there to make the magic happen.  You will notice that I have not included a pic of my own laundry covered skip of a yard!  I think it is entirely possible that I will only share the 'after' photographs on this particular project.  Hopefully before June but probably about September!

I am in the process of adding a page of embroidery techniques but again this will probably take a while so in the meantime there are a couple of links to things I've written about embroidery pattern transfer.