I am not sure if this is the right part of the forums, but here goes.
In brief, we need a way to let in winter light but block summer heat, but can’t just plant deciduous trees.
To the immediate south of our 2 1/2 story house (in a New England town) we have a 2-4’ strip of land (planted with blueberries and flowers), then our asphalt driveway, then the property line. In the summer, the southern sun heats up the house, and the driveway retains the day’s heat and re-radiates it. In an ideal world we would rip up the driveway and plant trees, but we need the driveway for off street parking in the winter. There is nowhere else on the property to park cars, since it is a small urban lot and we have mature street trees between the house and street.
We got a quote for 5 (aluminum roll up) awnings for the windows on the southern side, but the quote was for more than $4k! DIY would be about $2k, which is still steep.
I looked into planting Maximilian sunflowers as a living sun shield, but the strip is already too heavily planted to fit them in, and due to the slope of the land even 10’ sunflowers wouldn’t block the sun for most of the first story windows, never mind the second story.
Is there another option that might work to keep out the summer heat but let in winter light?
Thanks!