Yep, Superstition is great. There are plenty of other good commercial growers, too. It's interesting that there haven't been a lot responses to the original question that have taken the form of a list. And as I was trying to think what I would put on such a list I think I kind of figured out why: We have too many favorites and there's rarely a situation in which we have to choose among all of the ones we like (for often different reasons). Every year the AIS runs a popularity poll (called the "Symposium") and publishes a top 100. You might enjoy having a look at the 2007-2012 results:
http://www.irises.org/About_Ir...
If you dig into how the poll is conducted, you'll discover that it's very heavily weighted toward recent introductions. So, since I'm big fan of historic irises, the Symposium is a little frustrating. Some historics I wouldn't want to be without:
This NOID is the first iris I grew, obviously a pallida of some kind. I like it for sentimental reasons but also because it is the very definition of hardy and has a delicate periwinkle color that's especially beautiful in the evening and a really strong pleasant fragrance.
Prairie Flame (H. P. Sass 1942)
Changing Lights (H. E. Sass 1955)
Persian Robe (H. E. Sass 1954)
I've recently become converted to "Stepping Out," which I never thought that I would recommend, since plicatas aren't generally my favorites. But a clump of Stepping Out is just hard to beat.
