The angelica is 1.4 metres tall. It’s the 24^th of April and already the angelica has grown 1.4 metres. And it’s still rising. It is a magnificent stately strapping plant.

I have always rather looked down on its culinary value, one plant likely to produce enough crystallised stems to decorate a thousand cakes, but I have just discovered that it adds a delicate extra flavour to rhubarb crumble or apple pie. And the leaves, apparently, are good with fish. Angelica, herb of angels!

Equally magnificent at the moment, though on quite a different scale, is the little tree we call the sacred tree, Xanthoceras sorbifolium, 天仙果. It is planted outside temples in northern China, and we have planted it outside Louise’s therapy room. At the moment it is tiny, 20 cms tall, though it is trying hard. It spent the winter as a little stick 14 cms tall, but it has already put on 6 cms – not quite the 140 cms of the angelica, but given some good luck it may live 2000 years. The angelica will do everything it has to do in two years!

I feel like I should make a comment about measurement units. I don’t really understand metric measurements, but feel that I need to be European not Imperial. I think metres are big and centimetres are small, and certainly the sacred tree is very small and the angelica is very big!