Picea Pungens 'The Blues' is one of my favorite blue conifers. It will stay pretty narrow. Here's a photo of the tree in my garden. It's at least 10 years old now.

Stuart's post is spot on. Classy also.

Let me go big and yellow and I nominate Metasequoia Ogon for a reliable fast growing show stopper most non Gardenweb members haven't seen before.

how can we answer.. if you dont tell us where you are ... z6 is about 40% of the3 Us.. and very divergent ...

no conifer sever stops growing.. its all about how fat it gets to your size ... and then past it .....ken

Thanks, everyone. I'm in Massachusetts. I like the look of 'Bruns'! The Blues is beautiful, but I think it'll spread too far eventually.

Blue spruce is beautiful but can end up looking ratty in Massachusetts...or not. I've never been sure what makes some do well and others not. I'd think about other blue options.

I likePinus strobus 'Pendula'. They mentioned in another thread "Cedrus atlantica (Glauca Group) 'Glauca Pendula'". I kind of like Blue Atlas cedar in general as a blue option for Massachusetts...not personally familiar with this dwarf version. Ditto for Abies concolor 'Compacta'

In my experience Picea pungens not only become "leggy" or "ratty" here in the Northeast, they also lose their glaucous coating nearly completely after a year... only that years growth is blue, and even then, by the end of the summer it's substantially less blue. Simply too much humidity and rain. They also don't last much more than 30 years here which is a fraction of their lifespan in their natural environment. I'd have numerous pungens cultivars, I love them, but I simply don't live in the right area so I avoid them. I have a 'The Blues' that comes in brilliant powder blue in spring, and is completely green by winters end.

Ditto "the blues". Also Sester Dwarf blue spruce (verrry slow growth rate 2"/ year or so). Another one I like, though not blue is a weeping white spruce(would love to have a tall older specimen like Iseli Nursery's largest).

Is the tree limited to 8' in height by some type of roof? If so forget about weeping white spruce. And you will have to let the blues weep before it gets too tall. And the sester dwarf will also eventually hit 8'.

so forget all my recommendations, not sure what you mean by 8' ht? is something there that will physically block the tree or you just want an 8' tall tree? (trees keep growing until they die).

8 feet is sort of the 'garden height,' as Iseli nursery puts it. The ideal height. Technically the sky is the limit, but once it gets too big it'll need to go. Hence the request for dwarfs.

'Pendula Bruns' will definitely get past 8'

Came across Iseli "garden size".

http://www.iselinursery.com/garden-size-explained/

They say it is typically somewhere bw 10-25 years of age. A sester dwarf may or may not work for you, you can do the math(1-3" growth/year). A 2.5 foot Iseli Sester is about $150. To me the question is how much are you willing to spend (to not have an initially small tree) vs. how long you want there to be before you want to replace it.