I have 2 west facing windows in the living room which gets very hot in summer. There is already an awning installed on these windows but when rolled down, they don't quite reach the far bottom of the windows which will get direct westerly sun.

To cover this area, I was thinking of placing a rectangular pot (about a metre in length) for each window, and hopefully a nice small to medium sized plant. The plant will not get sunshine most of the time, but only in the afternoons from 3pm onwards where sun starts coming from the west. In summer it will be awful scorching sun.

Does anyone have any ideas on which plant/shrub will be suitable in this location? Perhaps a nice hardy plant with nice flowers, preferably fragrant - one can only hope :) I was thinking a smallish lavender at some stage but it will be no good with only a few hours sunshine the latter half of the day.

Oh, and this is the front pathway of the house so a plant that does not spill out of the pot much to obstruct the path will be nice.

Appreciate any suggestions,
Kat