You are asking addicts if it is worth adding to their addiction. Keep this in mind for perspective.

I add to mine every year. I have run out of space so I am letting go of some I find less attractive compared to ones I have purchased more recently. Some of the older ones never lose their charm and are "keepers".

By the way, my tastes also changed. At first I loved blues and blacks and blue and white amoenas and pinks. Then my tastes changed to include purples and whites with red beards, and anything red,white and blue combo. The fancy evolves over time. Then I found that yellow can make the other colors pop so I had to have some of that. I now love subtle colorations and bold colorations and the bolder the beard the better except on the subtle colorations ie. Treasured by Ghio.

It depends on pocketbook, space, and time to care for them.

K

For my pocketbook, $40+ is too much. And I've come to realize that some Dykes winners are not to my taste. Ditto with the new ones.

Apologies in advance for the detailed reply.....
......... I do extensive research into iris parentages and keep track of the newer iris crosses thru publications such as the AIS iris check list, and my own research.
I'll tell you right now that whether or not a newer iris is "worth" the price is a total matter of personal taste and initial reaction to seeing a new introduction for the first time. For me the vast majority of new introductions are NOT worth it, because of the hybridizers penchant for using older varieties as parents, that result in "new" iris that do NOT innovate as far as color, branching, petal width, ruffling, new color patterns, bud count etc. Many of the new introductions, with a few exceptions are look alikes of varieties commonly available for much, MUCH cheaper.
I've tossed hundreds upon hundreds of seedlings that people thought were beautiful, but didn't exhibit the traits i think an new $40-75 iris should have. If people are going to spend 40 - 60 dollars on my new intros - then I want my iris to LOOK INNNOVATIVE!!! (I shout for emphasis only, here). Some people may think my intros are so-so at best, too. Well, thats fine with me, since I realize all tastes are different, but I strive for modern traits, and won't intro any iris that don't exhibit the traits that I look/and am willing to pay for. There are entirely too many "look Ma, what I did" type of entries into the iris registration books, -- and that includes well known intros by popular hybridizers.

In my opinion there is no reason, unless you think that the world will end in a year or two. If they are anything good they will stay for some years and will be cheaper. It also depends what kind of award you're talking about. Just because an iris got Dykes, does not mean it will be good for you. Many years ago I was collecting Dykes winners. Half of them never grew for me and did not deserve the medal to begin with. Just to name a few: Kilt Lilt, New Moon, Mystique. Some looked quite ordinary to me, like Dream Lover and Vanity. My experience is : the newer the iris, the more susceptible to winter rot.

It sounds like you have some real beauties.
The most I ever spent on an iris was twenty bucks, which I considered exhorbitant. I fell in love with Rita's photos of Rio Rojo and had to have it. Of course, she lives on Long Island and I live in Southern California, so it may not grow at all for me, but I was smitten.

I have had a hard time getting some newer irises to grow and bloom, so I have begun to focus on tried-and-true varieties like the ones you grow. I'm always happy to hear which varieties thrive and bloom well for people.

Renee

Thanks for all your replies. They gave me some good perspectives regarding
the newer varieties. I had not thought of comparing parentages, for example.
I think I'll stick to my old toughies for a while, and visit some local growers.

Some of the new varieties are gorgeous (in pictures, at least), but they look so
delicate (Florentine Silk, Treasured, and the pale pink-pale lavender combinations, for example), that I wondered how vigorous they are.

The most vigorous iris I have ever grown are Black as Night, a very dark
cherry black, and Aaron's Dream, a very pale blue, almost white. I do not
have particularly good growing conditions. Although I don't have extremes of
temperature in Zone 9, I haven't got a lot of rainfall and my soil is mostly clay.
These conditions don't slow Black as Night or Aaron's
Dream down at all, they bloom and multiply like crazy. Hello Darkness also does well.

Irisgal and my mom love the pastel irises. I think Irisgal is a fan of the apricot/white amoenas and lavendars, and my mom loves the lavendar/pink combos. Sweet Musette is a great (oldie) iris that blooms really well in clay soil for my mom. It's always a show-stopper.

I got a few new intros as bonus irises this year, and I planted one of them, an apricot and white ruffled iris similar to Barbara My Love. I will have to go out and look at the tag for the name. We'll see how it grows.

Renee

If you're interested I could share lots of relatively new (introduced in last 10-12 years) ones which have done super for me, but I'm not sure that our soils are much alike. My mother has clay soil which is full of rocks and really horrible to grow irises. If you hold off three or four years, they go down considerably in price.

Mike

I realized when one of my newer (1997) pinks bloomed the reason I didn't go into 'rapture-state' was the way the falls were held. I swoon over graceful drape and this one had horizontal falls.

I agree. Sweet Musette really is one of the all time greats.