You've made some great points. I agree that it is good to support local
vendors who grow their own plants rather than flying them in from
Hawaii. This is especially true if, like me, you live in a cold-winter
area and your society has winter shows. Locally grown plants are much
more likely to thrive because they haven't endured days of shipping in
freezing temperatures. Also, some of our local vendors have a
well-deserved reputation for offering plants of excellent quality.

My two cents on displays: I LOVE shopping for plants, and the vendors'
tables are heaven, but I like displays too. One reason is that
vendors/breeders tend to sell the latest crosses or popular plants.
However, some of the seasoned society growers show wonderful old
crosses or oddball plants that I've never seen before--and don't see on
vendors' tables. At every show I've attended, I've seen some plant on a
display that I've fallen in love with--and then trotted home to
research an Internet vendor selling the plant. (The hard part is
waiting until spring to order it.)

Displays also provide a look at what a plant will really like when it's
years older than what the vendors are selling. Some orchids are like
St. Bernard puppies...