Brit to Care for Monet's Water Lilies

Oh là là. The latest gardener to watch over the most famous water lilies in the world is ... British. James Priest, 53, is the new manager of a sumptuous garden and pond filled with water lilies created more than a century ago by painter Claude Monet at his home of 73 years in the French town of Giverny. Millions around the globe know well Monet's water lilies—and flowers—thanks to the famous Impressionist's paintings of them. Priest, who trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, will supervise a crew of eight gardeners.

"This is an enormous honor and I'm only just beginning to realize how daunting a task it will be," Priest told the Independent. "It is an artist's garden, which parallels in some respects the way that Monet painted. He built up his canvasses in layers of paint, to catch the light in different ways. In the same way, you realize that the flower beds here have been conceived in layers of height and color to catch the light." (And in other art news, a new undertaking by those searching for the true Mona Lisa.)