you say you dont want them fat .. then you only list a height requirement ...

may as well throw in where you are.. big city name... the rockies is a bit vague ....

and i would suggest a pic of the spot.. so we might understand where you want to fit something in ...

ken

If you are in the Denver metro area (basically, front range), I recommend looking at the list of recommended trees for this area on the Colorado Extension website.

https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/evergreen-trees-7-403/

I can say for certain that dwarf Alberta spruce does very well here. Mine is about 20 years old and it's only maybe 6' tall and looks like a little Christmas tree still.

There is also a dwarf variety of Colorado Blue Spruce.

http://www.thetreefarm.com/spruce-blue-r-h-montgomery

Hope this helps!

There is about 300 dwarf varieties of Colorado

We also have a Rocky Mountain Garden forum regular, treebarb, she is great with recommendations for this area.

Elzeard,

Can you answer a few questions so I understand the space? Why the 12' max height, how much width do you have to work with and what's planted nearby now? What orientation is the planting space, as in south facing, etc.? Some fir and spruce would prefer some shade here.

We have an R.H. Montgomery, but it's definitely stout in proportion and has more of a shrub vs. tree look.

I like the funky weeping blue spruces. Wish I had one

I have a funky weeping blue spruce (and a green one) and love them! We named the blue one Wilma, and she's like a garden sculpture just off of our back patio. We've had Wilma for about 7 years and got Fred (the green one) a couple of years ago. I got them both from Lowe's when they were pretty small because I hate digging big holes, and both have established pretty well.

Wilma has a patch that faces the patio that tends to brown and die out every summer for some reason. Every year she sends out healthy new growth and I keep hoping one of these years the new growth will fill in and cover the bald patch, but so far it's still kind of dead looking in that one spot and I'm not sure why. If anyone has any suggestions on what the cause might be, please let me know. Other than that, she is adorable and perfect for the small spot where we wanted something evergreen for year round interest. I've pruned her a bit each year to keep a single leader (I'm not as crazy about the "Cousin It" look) and I tie the leader loosely to a stake.

Here she is (on the right) with lots of new growth in mid-June. You can see the sparse spot kind of in the middle.

Here's another picture with Wilma budding out on the far right in mid-May. R.H. Montgomery is the blue spruce to the left of the outbuilding in this picture. It's definitely more of a shrub than a tree.

Beautiful yard