With real estate, it often comes down to location, location, location. So I have heard. Some years ago, I did landscape maintenance work for a housing development. The gardens of the 5-6 model homes were kept in prime condition to encourage sales, so I worked there often. A (dim-witted?) Anna's hummingbird decided to make a nest in the potted tree at the entrance to the last model. That would have been fine, except she was very protective of her nest and would angrily buzz and swoop every potential customer that came near! (And me too, but at least I was aware of the nest!) Because almost all of the visitors were there for the first time, there were many, many surprised victims all day long. I would try to warn the customers when I was working in the area, because the sales people never seemed to, but it was an impossible task. More often I would just hear startled shrieks throughout the day. There had to have been a steady stream of customers while she was constructing the nest, so I cannot guess why she thought it was a good location. Other than the abundant amount of flowers. Silly bird. But she did manage to fledge her young, and did not return the following year. I imagine her stress level must have been off the charts. Even for a hyper-hummingbird.

I too have found the artline feeders tend to leak and will draw bees/wasps. I gave one to my sister. I have another extra large artline that I put out last year but have not this year as yet. Luckily Im not troubled with ants too much only with the artline that leaked which is history for me.

Another new plant that Ive found this season that works well for hummers is "Wendy's Wish" but is best in a pot. It also fared well in this summers heat wave. Hummers seem to like it quite well putting it in my top 5 this year.

You would do well with most of the guaranitica forms. There are some S. microphylla forms that are hardy as well. You may be able to do some S. puberula, S. involucrata, and S. greggii forms, especially with some protection. If you can mulch with bags of various sizes of shredded tree leaves, they will act as a removable cold frame. When spring begins to come, you selectively remove smaller bags to expose the plants and to warm the soil, keeping them handy for cold spells. With this system, you should be able to keep zone 7 plants going in the ground. The plants mentioned can be potted up and kept in a sheltered area as long as they are kept just moist, not wet or bone dry. When digging up, make sure to keep fine feeder roots.