Perhaps, like me, you avidly enjoyed the daily reports on BBC2.
Yes, it was a delight . . . it's always a delight. But what particularly struck me this year were two factors that were constantly referred to in the commentary.
Firstly, the benefit of plants and gardening for mental health; and, secondly, the urgent need for oxygen-producing plants to reduce pollution in our over-crowded cities. Two factors linked by their emphasis on the pressing mental and physical needs of humanity.
If you remember, in our last letter we were pondering on man's total dependence on the natural world. The vital nature of this dependence would seem to be coming to the forefront of current thinking.Not only did the gardens and flower displays at Chelsea go out of their way to feed both body and spirit, but there were many 'living walls' to bring this essential message home.
These magnificent 'living walls' clearly demonstrated how even city dwellers can find a way to nurture plants, and thereby connect with the living world.
What's more, people worldwide are acting on this knowledge.Look at this picture and see what the eminent Italian architect, Stefano Boeri, has created in Milan.
It's his belief that, as seventy-five per cent of carbon-dioxide is produced by cities, and forests absorb between thirty to thirty-five per cent, we have no option but to increase the number of city trees.
The residents of this tower block are constantly nourished by nearly a thousand trees and over twenty thousand plants.
And this isn't all, in addition to other environmental projects in Italy, Stefano Boeri has similar ones under way in Paris, the Netherlands and in Poland.
Here, in the UK, the Somerset city of Bath is intent on offering beneficial plants to its residents and visitors.
The city's phone boxes have become redundant as a means of verbal communication, instead they're being used to spread visual messages of health and beauty around the city.
Just look at this picture . . . can't you feel it doing you good?But let's give the last word to The Chelsea Flower Show.
As I'm sure you noticed, the lawn of one of the most popular Gold Medal gardens was richly planted with a profusion of weeds.
A weed, we were told, is only a plant growing where you don't want it to grow . . . seen as a wild flower, it can be truly beautiful.
Could there be a moral there somewhere?
