Flowers in the vegetable garden?

[Oriole]

So, I would like to use alyssum as a border with my veggies. Is it a good choice? Will it conflict with my other plants?

I was also hoping to incorporate peonies somehow into it. Will it be a problem?

Do you have any flowers to accent or border your veggies?

Thanks!

[HeatherAtHome]

I planted flowers in my garden and loved the look! I did a lot of research last spring when making my choices and I think I decided on flowers that were supposed to be helpful but it's been so long I've forgotten WHY. 

Marigolds -ok, this one I remember, it's supposed to keep bad bugs away. I had them planted with potatoes and it the "root" bed; carrots, beets, rutabagas etc

Nasturtiums-planted with cucumber and zucchini.

Cosmos- I think they brought in beneficial bugs.

Petunias-beneficial bugs? And because they're pretty. :)

Borage-Planted with tomatoes, brought in good bugs and was supposed to improve the taste of tomatoes (and strawberries) but can't remember how. 

There were a couple others but I forget their names. I wouldn't say these flowers made tidy borders, my garden was very WILD looking. ;)

Some of these were bought from a garden centre and it helped make the garden look nice when it was still a pile of mud before the veggies came in. I also used flowers as markers at the end of rows. 

[mattemma04]

I did the marigold all over.Also threw some flax seed in the garden.Consider flowers/herbs that will attract beneficial insects to your garden area,so they will eat some of those nasty bugs!

[firecat]

alyssum is great for food gardens!  they are supposed to attract braconid wasps which eat tomato hornworms. Plus they smell wonderful.  I am doing some this year in my garden, along with nasturtiums (super easy to grow from seed) and marigolds.  i like sunflowers too although they take up a lot of space.  I  think you can pretty much do whatever flowers you want to, though - petunias, zinnias, pansies etc.

[elanorh]

The thing about peonies is that they're perennials.  So they like to stay where they're planted .... If you're planting a permanent border/hedge thing somewhere along your vegetable garden (maybe intermixing them with rhubarb or something) then that might be cool .... But bear that in mind!

I plant calendula, cosmos, marigolds, sunflowers, zinnias, bachelor buttons, and nasturtiums in my vegetable garden.  I actually save my calendula seeds each year and just broadcast them in the garden (HEY!  Weeds I *like*!  ) -- I also let dill come up willy-nilly in my garden, too.  The flowers attract pollinators, and kiddos love picking them, and some do serve a good pest control assist too.  I really like calendula because they are so hardy, I like their scent (they're a medicinal anti-inflammatory too) - when we have our killing frost, the calendula usually keep growing for several more weeks after the rest of the garden is black and dead. 

You can plant pole beans around your sunflowers, and they'll climb up your sunflowers (so you don't need to make or buy a support for the beans).  I haven't tried that with vining peas, I suspect they wouldn't work as well....

I've always wanted to try borage, which is edible (as are the nasturtiums, and people will grown and eat johnny jump-ups too).