Flowers and vegetables

One goal of my 2016 garden is to blur the boundaries between the flower garden and the vegetable garden.  Thus, I've planted broccoli starts next to the snapdragons and bachelors buttons.  But, I'm finding it's easier to work vegetables into flowers than flowers into vegetable spaces.  Vegetables like beans and tomatoes beg for rows--its seems an artistic shame to sacrifice flowers to such a linear approach.  They end up feeling like an add-on, an afterthought.

Yes, I know marigolds deter insects, but such a calculating relationship seems a disgrace to both ends.  I'm prejudice against marigolds for exactly this season--they are always approached very practically, planted sequentially along the rows.  So sad.  Last summer when walking, I saw a majestic sweep of marigolds in a huge bed, all by themselves.  That's the way they meant to be---beautiful in their own right.

In contrast, the vegetables sneak into the flower beds quite nicely--broccoli is so obviously a flower, lettuce softens garden edges, and wispy herbs like dill round out the coneflowers and pansies.  I've planted romaine along the front path and carrots next to the daisies.

I think the fancy term for this is "polyculture," meanwhile I'm just drawn to the mixture of texture, shape, and color.