joyce- Concolor fir, serbian spruce- what are your opinions?

[perplexed ponder]

Joyce,
I've been looking up the plants you suggested and I also found these, I was wondering if you had an opinion on them.
They aren't supposed to get over 15-20' wide, it's the base I'm most concerned with for space.

[Joyce]

The Concolor (Abies concolor) sounds a lot like a Blue Spruce.
(we don't use it much here, so I looked it up in one of my books)
The one thing it will not tolerate for long is a heat wave.
The base *can* get up to 20' wide.
But like anything, it can be sparingly, yet artfully pruned to any width.
Yearly light pruning is the best way to control the width.
It's a faster grower than the Serbian.

The Serbian Spruce (Picea omorika) is a slower grower, and gets up to 25' wide at the base.
Once again, no prolonged periods of high heat.

The Concolor will be a denser tree that the Serbian.

[perplexed ponder]

Thanks Joyce!

[JoshS]

Hope you don't mind me jumping in, here 

Just something to consider when you want to prune a large growing conifer to control size...what will you do when it gets too tall to prune the entire tree?  The lower 8' (?) will be narrower and denser from the pruning, but everything above your reach will be "normal" growth.  It will make for a very un-natural looking tree, IMO.

Why not use an intermediate sized conifer?  Smaller/slower growing than the species, but not dwarf.  Or a fastigiate variety...one that stays narrower than normal.  There are such varieties of both Abies concolor and Picea omorika, I'm sure.  I can't recommend any specific cultivars, though...sorry.

Another thing...A. concolor has the most amazing purple cones!!

Maybe none of this is applicable...but there are so many conifer cultivars that it seems like it would be better to find one that fits your need than to buy something that is going to be a problem in the long run.

[perplexed ponder]

Don't mind at all Josh!
I would LOVE to find a fir or spruce that will fit the space. I don't want to look forward to removing something that outgrew the area. Would rather not prune if I don't have to. THERE MUST BE SOEMTHING!!
I have about 15' wide at the bottom tops. I have to be able to get the tractor behind it to cut the grass. Wish I could post a picture of my pond. I have lots of Emerald Green arborvitae, so I want to break it up with a differnet shade of green ans something about 20' tall would be great as well. I just want to make the pond feel more enclosed and sheltered. Plus there is an ugly view at one end I'd like to block.