“For every hedgehog I have a whim, I want the curly plant, yes!”

Don't covet other people's curls!

Curls have always been my passion. When I see ringlets and curls, I am always ecstatic and I can't resist looking for - even on an unknown head - a fleeting and hidden contact. I have not always been discriminating towards smooth hair, for example with Nuvola's children (our magnificent Maremma, invariably curly), I chose to keep the only smooth-haired dog in the entire litter.

The curly woman next to me

Contrary to what the song said ( picchè da ogni ricciu ti caccia 'nu capricciu, la donna riccia nun la vogliu, no ), when I saw Niussea for the first time, I immediately fell in love with her and her very curly hair. With my wife, however, I am also maliciously ruthless: when it happens that she straightens her hair, I always jokingly tell her that if that were her natural hairstyle, I would never have married her.

My “curly” garden

But what do plants have to do with all this? I must confess, that they too are giving me remarkable and unexpected surprises.
In my rock garden I have several species belonging to the Agavaceae and Bromeliaceae families, many of which have the characteristic of having the tips of their leaves with a natural drying out. For some time now, some of them have started to curl their tips; imagine my excitement!

If at the beginning in my garden there were only smooth plants ( Dasylirion serratifolium , Dasylirion acrotrichum , Dasylirion longissimum , Puya mirabilis , Nolina longifolia , Nolina nelsonii, Nolina hibernica ), recently I introduced new species that gave me this beautiful gift, such as Nolina beldingi , Nolina whipplei , Nolina lindheimeriana and Puya raimondii .

These new additions to the collection have made me realize that, alas, not even plants can escape my passion for hedgehogs!