It's a petunia Derby this year, for those who mark the march of time in the shifts of floral displays at Churchill Downs rather than which horse wins the Run for the Roses. The track's new horticulturist, Leslie Isaacs, has ended her first year by making a few floral changes. Begonias are out, mostly.
Coleus is in.
That is some consolation for sleepless weekends in April, when she fretted about untimely sleet and the fate of 1,200 New Guinea impatiens. The flowers, which had just been planted, got tattered and brown-edged. They had to be removed and replaced, a mistake of timing that Isaacs said she won't repeat. However, fretting comes with Derby territory. Isaacs' primary task is having the centerfield of Churchill Downs look splendid from chilly spring through torrid late summer and for it to be particularly flawless at Derby, when the international eye of television and a live crowd of hundreds of thousands descends upon Louisville.