Are live plants worth all the work?

Nope.

I'm kidding. The difficulty of having plants depends on the types of plants you keep. You can have a great looking plant setup with minimal work or daily upkeep.

I'm not really the best for suggestions here because I'm still learning myself. You're definitely starting correctly by asking before starting, because that can save you $$ and effort by eliminating some of the starting mistakes.

[edit]
Whoops, I guess I should have read carefully before posting. My bad.

$100 is a lot of plants. A lot of the budget to which I was referring was for equipment ie. lights, filtration, etc.

This is where the type of plants you keep come into play. A high tech setup with co2 injection, with high light, and with dosing of nutrients can be quite costly. With these things, you open yourself up to a vast array of plants that will thrive in your aquarium.

Having low lighting will mean much less nutrient dosing and no co2 injection necessary, but it reduces your selection.

Here's a couple of websites that I've found pretty useful.

www.ahsupply.com - lighting (commonly recommended for lights, but I don't have any personal experience with the company)

www.plantgeek.net - has all sort of info on plants and whatnot

http://members.cox.net/tulsaalstons/AquaticPlants.htm#High Pressure CO2 - co2 info

I'm going to bow now to the plant gods because my usefulness draws to an end here. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Sam

The number followed by the K is the kelvin rating. What you've got is a very, very high K rating, better suited to a salt water environment. The number followed by the W is the wattage of the tube(s).
In order to be moderately successful with plants, IMO, you need a minimum of 1 watt/gal. You are at .50 watts/gal. in a relatively deep tank(light must penetrate a bunch of water) and this is not going to get the job done for you.
Based on what you've related, I'd suggest that you think about upgrading your lighting to at least 90watts of PC(power compact) for each tank that will be planted. This will put you into a low light tank. Many plant people like the look and affect of a 6700K color spectrum.
There is no need for CO2 in this environment, although it would improve plant growth.
There are many plants that you can grow under that lighting. If you refer to the AH Supply link above you will find something on that site that fits into the 1.5watt range and hopefully into your budget. You could even go in to the 2.0 - 2.5watts/gal. range without the need for CO2.
I wouldn't waste money on plants for the lighting you have. I don't think they will do very well for you at the present wattage that you offer them.
Have you considered substrate(gravel) and filtration yet?

Len