Grape Vine

A pergola planted with Vitis vinifera does something no built structure can. It shades heavily all summer, then drops its leaves and lets the winter sun straight through. Courtyard architecture across the Mediterranean and the Middle East has relied on that for thousands of years.
It is a woody deciduous climber with palmately lobed leaves, insignificant green flowers and, given sun and pruning, a crop. Winter dormancy and annual pruning are not optional; both are how the plant works.
The Grape Vine is the original shade structure planting, giving summer cover, winter sun and a crop from the same framework.