If I were you I would consider Atlas Cedar. It is the most beautiful tree I know. I wish that it would succeed here. It withstands the heat and drought better than blue spruce, and is gloriously blue(some selections). I don`t really think you will find a rapid growing blue spruce, at least in my climate you won`t. Atlas Cedar grows more rapidly.

Juniperus virginiana 'Burkii'
Plus you'll have some nice fragrance and holds the color well year round. I'm not knocking the atlas cedar choice because I think they're nice but the foliage is rather sharp and prickely on those. On the J. virginiana the foliage is softer. I guess it would depend on where it's planted.

The blue spruce cultivar 'Hoopsii' grows well over a foot a year here and as fast as picea glauca or abies concolor. It is also one of the blues plants available. It may perform much differently in your though. Otherwise I second Jeff's recommendation of Atlas Cedar. There are also some nice selections if cedrus deodara. David

There's a variant of limber pine that is *really* blue.

Most of the blue conifers are blue because of beads of resin that form on the needles. With the right soap you can turn a blue spruce green. New growth goes blue in it's first year. Old growth is greener as the resin falls off.

There doesn't seem to be any survival aspect of the blue, so almost all of the blue trees show a lot of variation in color. To get consistent color you have get cloned trees.

A mixed forest composed as you describe would be beautiful. Hedge implies to me, the trees growing together. I think a mixed conifer hedge would look tacky.

an example of a really blue limber pine would be vanderwolfs pyramid.

No, not resin! It's wax on the leaf cuticle surface that makes them blue.

there are a few cham thyoides that are a nice blue .. here is one of them ... for you to research as to zone

Chamaecyparis thyoides 'Blue Sport' .. i wish i had a better picture ....
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and a few others ....

Pinus flexilus 'Cesarini Blue'
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p. f. extra blue
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Cunninghamia lanceolata "Glauca" (Blue China Fir)

The thing with limber pine/ pinus flexilis is the op said they want a rapid grower these cultivars are not.
Like my teachers always used to say, you're not following directions.

Got 3 blue atlas cedars that are growing fast. Very pretty, very blue. Also have 4 Hazel Smith Sequoias which are blue and growing fast. 2 vanderwolf's that have grown so much they've flopped over and the needles haven't opened yet.

At nurseries just walking around and staring, seems like there's a lot of blue varieties. You can always plant ceanothus for layering if you want a month of spectacular blue flower mass. Some varieties of ceanothus will get big as a tree if pruned and watered and cared for over the years to that end.

I just planted a Blue Ice Arizona Cypress in our yard for the first time, and it's wonderful.

Not fast growing, but still a respectable amount of growth. One of the nicest blues I've seen.

Blue Atlas cedar is another favorite, but a bit brittle sometimes.