East window too much sun- help!

[gardengirl13]

Since this section is visited more then the windowsill section I'll post this here.

Ok we finally moved into our new house last week. I was hideously excited about our east facing bay/bow window since in our last two houses we had larger nice east windows and the orchids LOVED them! Not this one! In just a few hours I now have 4+ sunburned phals!!!!!! Luckily only the ones right up against the glass got burned, not all of them!

Now what? I'm not sure if this is because it's not a normal window it's a bow or what is going on here. We are living right across the street from the house we lived in before the last one, so the area is the same otherwise. It is slightly more south east the the other house. I don't want to use sheers because I want to see out the window, but I will if nothing else can be done. There are these little round hooky type things that I can string something through for the sheers and only block the bottom half. But when sitting you won't be able to see out at all then. The sun really beats down on it more then I thought it would. I have my higher light orchids in a window on the same side of the house in another room for now since the west windows are quite harsh too. This window seems fine so far for them. But they're on a table right up against the sill, not on the actual sill. I would move them into the bow but I don't want to fry them too in case they can't handle it. In that room I'd rather not have a sheer since the room is nice and bright from the window and I'd like to be able to see out of that one too. I got my rack back out to put everyone on for now, but now that my collection has grown a bit, they don't quite fit well. Plus I was hoping to keep them on the sills so I can still use all our windows instead of blocking them with the rack and orchids. My husband suggested maybe buying more lights and putting them more around the house. But in our environment it's better to create more micro-climates by having them closer together.

I really want to be able to use this bow! We are thinking of putting in a new window soon since it's old and leaky and not great. I was going to put in a nice deep bay to have room for most of the lower light orchids since they've always loved east windows before, but would putting in a normal flat window with a large sill be better? Would that let in less harsh sun and heat? Would just upgrading to a better window be enough since this is from the early 80's? Is older glass more prone to letting sun burn plants? Would maybe adding an awning work? But it gets hot from early morning too, but maybe that'll be ok if the sun is off them by 11 or so? We were also thinking of one day upgrading the front step area from an ugly aluminum awning type thing to a wood porch, maybe extend that over the window? Would that then shade that too much? Or would it let in enough light in the early am to be ok? Problem with that is it'll be quite a bit before we can afford to do something like that. A cheaper temporary type awning might be better for now.

If nothing can be done then what plants can be kept there? I know cactus will probably do well, but I don't think anything else will. I don't think any orchids will do ok there. I might consider plants on the outside, but we were trying not to put anything out there that would block the window. I was thinking something like limelight hydrangeas that we brought over from the other house, but I don't want to block it too much.

help.