Hi Rand, I’m so glad you love the blue star juniper — the year-round blue color can’t be beat! As for the dwarf mugo pine, there are some varieties that are good for zone 8, others are good up to zone 7. I’d suggest two things: First, find a good nursery — as in a really good nursery that seems to have employees who truly know their plants — and see if they sell mugo pines. Local nurseries will (usually) only sell shrubs that will do well locally. That being said — there are always exceptions too! So if you do decide to try a mugo pine, I’d plant it in a partial shade location — preferably afternoon shade — so it can withstand some of the hot sun of the coast. We are super humid in our Summers here too in southern New Jersey at the shore, and my own mugos are doing great in zone 7, partial sun/shade each day. To find varieties that will work in zone 8, do some internet searching on websites that sell conifers, instead of just starting to search for mugo pines. These conifer sites can be a wealth of information, as they usually carry multiple varieties of mugo pines and will list the gardening zones for each mugo. Does this help?