Evergreen shrub suggestions

I'm trying to find a shrub to use as a privacy screen in front of windows on the front side of my house that isn't a Juniper. The list of criteria is:
cold hardy to zone 7
evergreen
low water use / drought tolerant
lots of sun
no thorns
height 6-10 feet

Best I've found to date is a Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) that *might* work with one of the more cold hardy varieties. Its deciduous, but stays green if it doesn't get too cold.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Box should be OK. It'll eventually get taller (in about 30 years!) if it isn't trimmed, but it is very easy to trim.

Resin

Thanks Resin. Do you know if there are any low water use Boxwoods? Info I found on Boxwoods says they like 1" of water a week. We get 8" of rain a year along with some intense sun.

How about the evergreen trees Cupressas arizonica 'Arizona Cypress' or Eleagnus pungens fruitlandi 'Silverberry"? Both are native to NM. The Arizona Cypress gets very large and is drought tolerant. The 'Silverberry' is drought tolerant when established and height is about 12'.

Silverberry would be nice, but is somewhat thorny.

Box can grow in quite dry areas in southern Europe: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Buxus_sempervirens0.jpg

Another option would be some of the manzanitas.

Resin

Thanks for more ideas. I will ponder on them and do some more research. I could probably make the Boxwood work. The short tree idea is worth looking at, just not with thorns. The Manzanita idea is intriguing. I like that.

This is an odd one that might work. Arbutus unedo. I believe they don't need much water and would take a long time to get big even then you could prune it up. I think they come from arid regions in Europe.

Resin would know I bet.

Might work, but if it does, could get too large in the longer term. Worth adding, there is a native Arbutus in NM, which would cope with the climate even better, but again might get too large.

Resin

I like them because they're colorful pretty much year round.

Would an evergreen Osmanthus work for you? Mine is about 6 feet tall, has fragrant blooms in spring, and has small, oval,evergreen, dark green leaves. I'm in zone 8, but my climate is probably much different than yours. They are supposed to be drought hardy.

Thanks CoreHHI. There are compact versions of the European uendo - 6 ft high, rated to zone 7b (right on the edge). I didn't find any compact versions of natives. A good number of my plants are/will be Mediterranean or Mediterranean-like, so I'm fine with that.

A Silver King euonymus might be of interest. Grows large (the Silver Queen variety seems to grow a bit shorter). Varigated, no thorns, happy in nearly all soil types. These plants like sun, and appear healthy with normal rain fall (or has been the case in NY too much rain fall this year.)

Here is a pic of my Arizona Cypress as Snapple mentioned. Mine has been planted since 2002 and now must be 20' tall, a beautiful blue/green color and thrives on neglect.