Lavender or Hydrangea?

[HotLadybird]

I've got a spot under my front window that needs filling but I can't decide what to put there. It's south facing and I'm very good at killing plants so need something fairly low maintenance Not sure what type of soil it is (West Yorkshire) but I see both do well around here.
Any suggestions?

A white lacey hydrangea!

lavender is super low maintenance, and smells lovely.

Lavender. Slugs will devour hydrangeas

Ahh, we've got bloody loads of slugs round here so will go with lavender. Thank you!

Cistus ? Flowers in June and July, very low maintenance.

Sorry, just seeing that you weren't after other suggestions, just deciding between lavender and hydrangea.

No probs. Citrus would be tempting if I could grow lemons for my G&T!

Oh, cistus?

Jeez, for a horrible split second I thought this was on the Baby Names board.

😂😂😂😂😂

Hilarious. I would go lavender. I think hydrangeas need a lot of watering - hence the name.

Ah, of course! Thanks!

I've got 5 lavender plants in my garden, they look and smell lovely but do attract lots of bee's.

I've got lavender in a trough in front of my bay window - it's actually more W facing, but otherwise sounds similar

It needs fairly poor soil & not too much water. Mine's been there in the same soil for about 5 years, & the trough is like sandstone so dries out quite fast, & it seems very happy

Lavenders aren't that low maintenance, they go woody quite quickly IMO but that may be dependant on the variety. Hydrangeas thrive on cold tea apparently, so if you make tea in a teapot go hydrangea.

Mine are a bit woody at the bottom, & I'm contemplating a little gentle pruning this year, but after 5-6 years (forget exactly) they looked like this a month ago.

Dh was telling me the other day how to prevent woodiness, unfortunately I got distracted and wasn't listening I'll ask him again tomorrow!

Yy to water & hydrangea. I did not know that until last year and wondered why mine never did well or died. Now I have them in bloom throughout the garden but they need sooooo much water.

I think there's nothing more beautiful than a hydrangea. I'm no expert but I think there's a large one called Annabelle

I've never had trouble with slugs either

We have loads of hydrangeas and I've never noticed the slugs bothering them .

Lavender will not go woody if you prune it correctly.
It's an early prune, you have to do it in late August so that the new growth gets a chance to establish before the first frosts.

It is tempting to put it off, because the bees will still be using the plant for nectar, but you must be strong!

Think of it as a harvest rather than a prune. You can bring the flowers indoors and use them for lavender bags for Xmas presents if you're so inclined!

Ok now for the chop.
Go over the whole plant, cutting back not only the flower stems but most of the leaf growth. Try not to cut into the old wood.
Trim everything back until you have a dome shape.
It will look like someone has scalped it, but you just need to put up with that for a few weeks.
By mid September, it will be covered in new growth with time for it to harden off before the frosts.

If you miss this deadline (last week in August for me on the Welsh borders) then you need to wait until the spring. You can lightly go over the plant to remove the flowers but don't cut hard into the plant.

My 12 year old lavender is doing well on this regime and always has a full covering of leaves, not leggy in the slightest.

Thank you so much. This is what I'm going to do ^

I have never had any slug/snail issues with hydrangeas? And I have many many snails