Plant husbandry – Receptacle for growing medium – Irrigator
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-08
2001-05-01
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Plant husbandry
Receptacle for growing medium
Irrigator
C047S075000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223466
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a planting system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system of containers to plant flowers, plants and the like wherein different flowers and plants can be planted in different containers and can be interchanged when desired.
People like to beautify their homes and yards. One way to beautify one's surroundings is to plant flowers, plants and the like. However, planting and gardening may be difficult for some people because of physical limitations or a lack of time.
Presently, when a gardener wants to plant a flower or plant in a particular location in his yard, he must physically plant the flower or plant into the ground at that location. This generally means, to plant some flowers for example, that the gardener must kneel for a period of time, first digging a hole for the flowers, then placing the flowers into the hole, treating and replacing the soil around the flowers, and compacting the soil.
Additionally, the gardener must plant his plants and flowers one at a time around his yard. Again, planting a flower or plant may take a significant amount of time and effort, as described. If the gardener desires many different flowers or plants planted around his yard, he would have to spend many hours performing all of this planting. Then, if the gardener wishes to remove a plant or flower from one location and place it in another location, he must physically dig up the plant from its original location and then dig a new hole at the new location and replant the plant or flower.
In the alternative, the gardener may plant plants and flowers into flower pots, which are conventional and well known in the art, and place these pots around his or her yard in desired locations. However, these plants and flowers are not planted into the ground. In addition, placing pots onto the lawn causes the grass underneath the pot to turn brown and possibly die. Thus, flower pots may generally only be placed on concrete or asphalt areas, such as sidewalks, driveways or decks, or some other surface other than the grass. This limits the placement of the flowers or plants.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a planting system that allows gardeners to plant flowers and plants without needing to physically kneel on the ground for long periods of time, allows gardeners to plant many flowers and plants in less time than conventional pots and containers, and allows gardeners flexibility in placement in his or her yard.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a planting system. Generally, the planting system comprises two containers: a first, inner container and a second, outer container. The inner container and the outer container may be made in a variety of shapes, designs and sizes, such as, for example, cylindrical, frustoconical, rectangular, square and triangular. The inner container is made to be slightly smaller than the outer container, such that the inner container fits snugly into the outer container.
During use, the outer container may be planted permanently into the ground. The outer container of the present invention is, however, not limited to being permanently planted into the ground. The outer container may be a window box or the like, or it may be placed above ground in any desired location. After the outer container is positioned, the inner container is placed into the outer container. Flowers, plants or the like are contained in the inner container and may be planted either before or after the inner container is placed into the outer container.
One object of the present invention is to address the need of those persons who like to garden but cannot physically kneel for long periods of time to plant flowers or plants into the ground. With the present invention, the only physical planting into the ground that the gardener needs to perform is to plant an outer container one time for any one location. He then plants flowers or plants into an inner container while sitting on the ground, sitting at a table or in any other comfortable position. Then, he simply places the inner container into the outer container, which is already planted into the ground.
Another object of the present invention is to address the needs of those persons who like to garden but who lack time to perform significant landscape work in their yard. With the present invention, various outer containers may be planted into the ground at different locations around the gardener's yard, and the gardener then need only plant the desired flowers or plants into corresponding inner containers and place the inner containers into the outer containers. Planting flowers or plants into the inner containers takes less time than planting them into the ground, because the gardener does not have to dig into the ground.
An advantage of the present planting system is that it allows the gardener to interchange one flower or plant with another without physically digging up the flower or plant from the ground. It is envisioned that the gardener may have many different outer containers and many different inner containers available for use in performing landscape work in his or her yard. As stated above, the inner containers and the outer containers may be formed in a variety of shapes. For a particular shape, however, a number of the inner containers can fit into a given outer container. Thus, the gardener may take a first inner container (with the original flowers or plants contained therein) out of a first outer container and place a second inner container (with different flowers or plants contained therein) into the first outer container. Similarly, the gardener can place the first inner container (with the original flowers or plants contained therein) into a second outer container which has a complementary shape and which is positioned at another location. Of course, a third inner container and a third outer container (and so on) may be used to allow even further variety in the placement options. With the present invention, by utilizing a number of different containers systems, plants and flowers may be rotated throughout the gardener's yard in an easy manner for variety and for a change in scenery. The placements of plants and flowers are only limited by the number of containers that the gardener has and his or her imagination.
Another object of the present invention is to address the need for protecting flowers and plants from flooding and freezing temperatures. With the present invention, the gardener need only remove the inner containers (with the plants or flowers contained therein) from the outer containers and place them in a place safe from the flooding or freezing temperatures.
Another advantage of one embodiment of the present invention is that the inner containers, as well as the outer containers, may be stacked together, or nested, in a vertical direction for easy storage and transport. In this embodiment, the inner containers and the outer containers have complementary shapes, with the inner containers being slightly smaller in diameter than the outer containers, but each are tapered from one end to the other. For this tapering, the diameters of the inner containers and the diameters of the outer containers may increase from bottom to top or, conversely, from top to bottom. Thus, the inner containers are tapered such that they fit into other inner containers and the outer containers are tapered to fit into other outer containers. Thus, the inner containers, as well as the outer containers, can be stacked together for easy storage and transport.
In one embodiment, the inner container has a horizontal lip protruding from its upper edge. This lip may be made aesthetically pleasing to the eye, e.g., by painting it in a faux finish of stone, marble, wood, brick and the like. The protruding decorative lip also functions as a handle to lift and lower the inner container relative to the outer container. In another embodiment, the lip can be designed to snap fit onto the top edge of the inner container for more secure plac
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Jordan Charles T.
Palo Francis T.
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