GB2330511A - Pannier style plant container - Google Patents

Abstract

A plant container 1 is formed with at least two receptacles 2 joined to one another by a connector 6 in such a way that the container can be suspended on a rail with at least one receptacle hanging down on each side of the rail. Preferably the connector is flexible and adjustable in length. The receptacles may be rigid or they be flexible pockets or pouches. As well as an opening 3 in the top of each receptacle, slots 9 may be provided to allow plants to be planted through the walls of the receptacles. The receptacles may be compartmented (Figs. 6, 7). A trellis (13, Fig. 3) for support may also be provided either separately or integrally with the container. Ribbons 8 may be provided on each receptacle to allow them to be tied to one another and/or to a fixed support and in this way the container can be fixed in position.

Description

A PLANT CONTAINER The present invention relates to a plant container.

Many different types of plant containers are known.

Some plant containers are adapted to be mounted on a wall, for example by means of a screw which is fixed to a wall and which passes through a hole in a side wall of the container. Other types of plant containers, such as hanging baskets, can be suspended from a hook. However, all of these known suspended plant containers are difficult to mount in that it is necessary to drill into a wall, for example, which requires specialist tools and a degree of expertise. In addition, there may not always be a suitable wall on which such a suspended plant container can be fixed.

Accordingly, there is a need for a plant container which can be more easily mounted than prior art plant containers and which requires no specialist tools to mount the plant container.

According to the present invention, there is provided a plant container, the plant container comprising two receptacles for respectively containing a plant, the receptacles being joined to each other by a connector such that the container may be suspended on a rail which supports the connector with the receptacles hanging on opposite sides of the rail.

Thus, the plant container of the present invention can easily be suspended on a rail by simply hanging the receptacles respectively on either side of a suitable rail with the weight of the plant container being supported by the connector contacting the rail. The plant container does not have to be fixed to a wall by means of screws or suspended from a hook fixed to a wall, for example. The plant container is easily removed from its suspended position. Because no hooks or screws, etc., have to be used to hang the plant container of the present invention, removal of the plant container after use does not leave behind any unsightly fixings as is usually the case with conventional hanging baskets or other conventional suspended plant containers.

It will be understood that the "rail" may be any suitable rail. Typically, the rail might be a balcony rail, a fence, or a wall.

The connector is preferably flexible.

The length of the connector may be adjustable. This allows the plant container to be adjusted to fit wider or narrower rails and also allows the height of the receptacles to be adjusted if desired.

The connector may be slotted. This enables the plant container to be hung over a rail having posts or the like which project upwards from the rail with the projecting parts of the posts being received in the slots.

The receptacles may be flexible. Alternatively, the receptacles may be rigid.

The container may have more than two receptacles.

The receptacles may have plural apertures. Such apertures may be provided in a side wall or side walls of the receptacles to allow plants to grow out through the apertures.

The container may further comprise a trellis. The trellis may be integral with the container or may be detachable, for example.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a first example of a plant container according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the first example; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the first example having an optional trellis; Fig. 4 is a side elevation showing examples of the present invention in use; Figs. 5 to 10 are side elevations of further examples of the present invention; and, Fig. 11 shows various examples of trellises.

Referring particular to Figures 1 and 2, a plant container 1 has two receptacles 2 in the form of pockets which have an opening 3 at their uppermost edge. A backing sheet 4 of each receptacle 2 extends beyond the opening 3.

The free ends 5 of the projecting parts of the backing sheets 4 are joined to one another by a connector 6 in the form of an elongate strip. The two backing sheets 4 and the connector 6 may be integrally formed from the same sheet material. Preferably, the backing sheets 4 can flex at their respective connections to the connector 6. A draw string 7 is provided around the opening 3 to each of the receptacles 2. Tie strings or ribbons 8 are provided on the receptacles 2. Some of the ribbons may be merely decorative and others are functional as will be described further below. In addition to the opening 3, the receptacles 2 may have apertures in the form of slits 9 in their sides.

As shown in Figure 4, the plant container 1 is very readily deployed on a rail 10 simply by hanging the plant container 1 on the rail 10 with the receptacles 2 hanging on either side of the rail 10. The receptacles 2 can then be filled with plants 11, compost, etc. The plants 11 may optionally be passed through the slits 9 if provided. The draw strings 7 can be tightened and tied to retain the plants in the receptacles 2 and to maintain the pocket-like shape of the receptacles 2.

The container 1 can be secured to the rail 10 by means of the ribbons 8. In particular, ribbons 8? provided on each side of the receptacles 2 can be tied together to keep the two receptacles 2 close together and hanging generally or substantially vertically. Ribbons 8" provided at the lowermost portions of the receptacles 2 can be tied to each other and optionally around a post 12 which supports the rail 10 as shown in Figure 4, again to secure the container 1 to the rail 10 and to keep the receptacles 2 in their desired position.

An optional trellis 13 is shown in dashed lines in Figure 3 and in solid lines in Figure 4. Examples of different shapes for the trellis 13 are shown in Figure 11.

The trellis 13 has a projecting tongue 14 which can be received in one of the receptacles 2 to mount the trellis 13 on the plant container 1. The weight of plants, soil, compost, etc. in the receptacle 2 serves to maintain the trellis 13 in position. The trellis 13, which typically is a lattice-like frame, supports climbing plants 11 in the plant container 1 as shown in Figure 4. Instead of being provided as a discrete item, the trellis 13 may be integrally formed with the plant container 1.

Some rails 10 have supporting posts 12 which project above the height of the rail 10. For such rails 10, a relatively narrow width receptacle 2 may be provided as shown in Figure 5, for example, which can fit between the uppermost projecting portions of the posts 12.

Alternatively, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, the connector 6 may be slotted to provide slots 15 through which the uppermost projecting parts of the posts 12 of the rail 10 may pass. The slotted connectors 6 allow the receptacles 2 to be relatively wide as shown in Figures 6 and 7 whilst still enabling the plant containers 1 of Figures 6 and 7 to be used on a rail 10 having projecting posts 12. In the examples shown in Figures 6 and 7, the receptacles 2 have plural openings 3 as shown. The receptacle 2 on each side of the plant container 1 in such cases may be sub-divided into discrete pockets each having its own respective opening 3. Alternatively, some or all of the compartments in the receptacle 2 may be open to each other laterally of the receptacle 2 and the plural openings 3 provide several access points to the open compartments of the receptacle 2.

The connector 6 may be adjustable in length. This allows the separation between the joined portions of the receptacles 2 to be increased or decreased as desired.

This in turn allows the relative height of the receptacles 2 in the suspended position to be adjusted and also allows rails 10 having different widths to be accommodated by the connector 6.

Examples of adjustable connectors 6 are shown in Figures 8 to 10. In Figure 8, two belt-like connectors 6 are provided for joining the receptacles 2. In this example, each of the belt-like connectors 6 is in two parts 6A,6B, one of the parts 6A having plural through holes 16 through which a locking tongue 17 of the other part 6B may selectively be passed. The hole 16 through which the locking tongue 17 is passed determines the effective length of the connectors 6.

In the example shown in Figure 9, the connector 6 is in the form of two chains 6 which each have plural chain links 18 and which are fixed to hoops 19 provided on the backing sheets 4 of the receptacles 2. The number of links 18 can be adjusted, or the particular link 18 which is connected to a particular hoop 19 can be chosen, so as to allow the user to select the desired length of connector 6.

In the example shown in Figure 10, the connector 6 is in the form of two straps 6. Each strap 6 is in two parts 6C,6D connected by a buckle 20 which allows the overall length of each strap 6 to be adjusted.

Instead of the straps or chain 6 of the examples of Figures 8 to 10, two pieces of rope or cord may alternatively be used, the length of which may be adjusted as required.

The plant containers 1 of the present invention may be formed of a flexible material such as jute, hemp, sisal, rafia, canvas, woven plastics or other soft plastics sheets, etc. Such flexible plant containers 1 can readily be folded for storage, for example.

If desired, the plant containers 1 can be rigid and may be formed of any suitable material such as bamboo, cane, rattan, wicker, plastics-coated wires, rigid plastics mouldings, wood, metal, etc.

In each of the examples described above, a rigid or substantially rigid former, such as a piece of thick cardboard or other suitable material, may be inserted into one or both receptacles 2 to give some rigidity to the receptacles 2, especially where the plant container 1 is made of a flexible material.

An embodiment of the present invention has been described with particular reference to the examples illustrated. However, it will be appreciated that variations and modifications may be made to the examples described within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. CLAIMS l. A plant container, the plant container comprising two receptacles for respectively containing a plant, the receptacles being joined to each other by a connector such that the container may be suspended on a rail which supports the connector with the receptacles hanging on opposite sides of the rail.
2. 2. A container according to claim 1, wherein the connector is flexible.
3. 3. A container according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the length of the connector is adjustable.
4. 4. A container according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the connector is slotted.
5. 5. A container according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the receptacles are flexible.
6. 6. A container according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the receptacles are rigid.
7. 7. A container according to any of claims 1 to 6, comprising more than two receptacles.
8. 8. A container according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the receptacles have plural apertures.
9. 9. A container according to any of claims 1 to 8, further comprising a trellis.
10. 10. A plant container substantially as described with reference to any of Figures 1 and 2, or Figure 3, or Figure 4, or Figure 5, or Figure 6, or Figure 7, or Figure 8, or Figure 9, or Figure 10, all optionally in conjunction with Figure 11, of the accompanying drawings.