How about a blue rug juniper? Seriously, we need more location and climate info, sun/shade, max width, preferred shape. A picture of the space usually helps.

Thank you much for your response. Location- Central Valley, California, full sun. Preferred shape- Christmas tree, max width about 12 ft. I'm unable to take a picture at this time.

Thank you for your time

Notice that the Monrovia tool linked to above has an Advance[d] Filters section you can open and search by height, among other things. Of course, the height categories they offer will not be fixed - as with any kind of growing woody plant a conifer will just keep getting bigger after the desired height is reached. Otherwise you could also use the Plant Catalog plant name search preceding the FIND WHAT WORKS part to look for Cupressus, Juniperus or Pinus - all typical hot climate conifer genera adapted to freely draining soils.

Here's a few suggestions. These are all slow-growing trees with irregular upright growth habits. They will probably need pruning to get a pyramidal shape. Since I live in an area where conditions are totally different from yours, these are just educated guesses. Check with different sources to make sure they will do OK where you live, especially your local extension office.

Cedrus libani 'green prince' or 'green knight'

Cedrus atlantica 'Horstmann'

Pinus thunbergii 'thunderhead'

P.t.'Thunderhead' isn't slow growing and it becomes a thug pretty quickly. C. . 'Green Prince' is one of the best dwarf trees ever. 'C. a. 'Horstman' is a lovely tree but not super slow growing either.

i know nothing about CA.. so i cant specifically help you on choice ...

but understand.. that within the conifer world ... size ESTIMATES ... are generally at 10 years ... and you can presume at 20 years.. they will be twice as big ... as trees ... they simply never stop growing.. in your lifetime ...

so then the issue is ANNUAL GROWTH RATE .... e.g. if a plant grows 1 foot per year.. in 10 years... it will be about 10 feet tall ... 2 foot annual ... 5 years ... etc ...

but if you find something that grows 6 inches per year ... its going to take 20 years to get too big ...

here is a general overview from the society .....

http://conifersociety.org/conifers/conifer-sizes/

also ... ALL the better sites within the conifer world ... use the latin names .... and if you find that in a search engine ... and add ANNUAL GROWTH RATE ... you will be able to hone in growth rate.. as an e.g. .... based on a suggestion above:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Cedrus+atlantica+%27Horstmann%27+annual+growth+rate&t=ffcm&ia=web

all that said... do enough research.. to find something that makes your toes tingle .. and get rid of it in 10 or 20 years ... if it gets too big ... rather than simply making a decision about getting an otherwise boring ugly plant.. simply based on size projections ...

ken

Sara Malone is right. Pinus thunbergii 'kotobuki' would probably suit your needs better. Finding one may be difficult, though. Kigi Nursery sells them in various sizes. Some people don't like Kigi but I have had pretty good dealings with them. More of the complaints I have read seem to be about their maples, not their conifers.

Pinus mugo 'tannenbaum' might be another option. Mugos are not known to be as heat tolerant as the other species I recommended, but they are damn tough trees in my experience.