GB2504669A

GB2504669A - Hanging basket liner

Info

Publication number: GB2504669A
Application number: GB201213584A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Daniel Bruno Pedri
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-07-31
Filing date: 2012-07-31
Publication date: 2014-02-12
Also published as: GB201213584D0

Abstract

A hanging basket liner 2 comprises a concave-shaped form of an impermeable plastics material and which has a perforated upper in use region 2a; and a non-perforated lower in use region 2b that functions in use as a moisture reservoir. The plastics material is suitably a plastics, preferably polyethylene, film that is pre-formed substantially to the required shape. The perforated upper in use region may be formed by apertures 3 larger than 1cm and they made be arcuate or half-moon shape. The film may be designed to biodegrade and may be light coloured or white to reduce solar heat gain. The plastic material may have a hemispherical or frusto-hemispherical shape.

Description

Hanging Basket Liner

Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns improvements in and relating to liners for hanging baskets, such as are used for holding and displaying plants.

Background of the Invention

Hanging baskets for holding and displaying plants are a common feature of civic floral displays in many high streets in the UK hung from lamp posts, sign stands or other supports and many of us have a hanging basket at our home, often as a welcoming decoration hung from a bracket by the front door of our home.

For those that have made up a hanging basket, hung and then watered it frequently over a growing! displaying season some of the problems of their conventional design and construction are readily apparent. The baskets are generally constructed as hollow hemispheres! concave vessels formed from a wire mesh of plastics and! or metal to be robust yet relatively light and flexible.

They are normally lined with sphagnum moss or a liner that comprises coin flax or artificial matting. A sheet of polyethylene such as a plastics bin bag may be used as a waterproof liner layer to be laid in the basket for moisture and root retention before filling the basket with soil and a saucer or plastic flower pot base may sometimes be placed in the bottom of the basket to act as a reservoir. The manner of preparation of these conventional baskets for planting is often inconvenient and time-consuming, especially if the basket is to be successful at retaining the right level of moisture over the growing! displaying season avoiding water-logging or drought while being easily planted up and maintained and also inexpensive.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved liner for hanging baskets that addresses the afore-mentioned problems.

Summary of the Invention

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a liner for hanging baskets that comprises a concave-shaped form of an impermeable plastics material and which has: i) a perforated upper in use region; and U) a non-perforated lower in use region that functions in use as a moisture reservoir.

The perforated upper in use region is suitably perforated for drainage to prevent the basket from being water-logged. These may be small perforation apertures, e.g. pinhole sized or otherwise only a few mm in size, and! or the perforated region may be perforated by an array of apertures larger than 1 cm and preferably of the order of 2 to 5 cm that allow for insertion of plug plants. These apertures may suitably be arcuate or half-moon shaped and may be wholly open or may be formed by an incision or series of incisions in the material so that the material can be lifted or pushed in to form a flap that can help to further reduce evaporative dehydration in use. The perforations! apertures are preferably arrayed at intervals all around the basket so that should the basket hang at a tilt it will still have drainage apertures at an appropriate height to counteract water-logging.

The concave shaped form of impermeable plastics material preferably has a shape that is at least approximately hemi-spherical or approximately frusto-hemi-spherical to seat comfortably within a correspondingly-shaped basket. The material is preferably pre-formed substantially to the required shape. This might preferably be by a blown film extrusion process! tubular film process or be by another process, such as injection moulding, where the die has the required concave shape.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a liner for hanging baskets that comprises a concave-shaped form of an impermeable plastics material configured to fit as a liner within a hanging basket wherein the plastics material is plastics film pre-formed substantially to the required shape.

The shape suitably is circular in plan and the liner may be provided in a range of different sizes! diameters.

Preferably the plastics material is polyethylene. The plastics material may be designed to biodegrade over an acceptable time-frame. The longevity of the liner may be adjusted by adjusting the type or proportion of biodegradable constituents and! or by adjusting the thickness of the liner.

The invention as described and illustrated provides an affordable, convenient to set-up, easy to maintain and more reliable solution to the problems of the prior liners.

Brief Description of the Drawings

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be more particularly described, solely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: C') Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional mesh hanging basket of approximately hemi-spherical shape and with a set of hanging chains to be hung from a support hook; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of liner of the present C') invention from above.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring to Figure 2, the illustrated embodiment of hanging basket liner 2 comprises an approximately 2mm thick sheet of impermeable plastics, here exemplified as polyethylene, that is preformed to a substantially hemispherical shape by a blown film extrusion process! tubular film process so that it fits neatly, nested in the hemispherical concave form of the mesh hanging basket 1.

The liner is circular in plan and for different diameters of hanging basket the liner may be formed in a range of diameters, to a substantially matching size for each diameter of hanging basket. In general most hanging baskets tend to be of substantially standard small, medium and large sizes (most are of the order of 24, 30, 35 and 40 cm in diameter) and so only a few liner size options are needed.

The hanging basket liner 2 has a perforated upper in use region 2a and a non-perforated lower in use region 2b that functions in use as a moisture reservoir.

The perforated upper in use region 2a is perforated for drainage to prevent the basket from being water-logged. The perforation apertures are shown in an array of half-moon apertures 3 at intervals spaced around the basket so that should the basket hang at a tilt it will still have drainage apertures at an appropriate position! level to counteract water-logging. The apertures 3 are half-moon shaped and formed by a series of incisions! smaller tear apertures 3a in the material so that the material can be lifted or pushed in to form the half moon aperture with a flap that can help to reduce evaporative dehydration in use. The half-moon shaped apertures 3 thus formed are from 1 cm to 3cm long and allow for insertion of plug plants pushed through into the soil within the basket. If not used for plug plants the smaller tear apertures 3a can be large enough to allow for drainage in any event.

The plastics material is selected to biodegrade over an acceptable time-frame that is of the order of a few months and the longevity of the liner is adjusted by adjusting the thickness of the liner. The plastics material may be of any colour but preferably in one embodiment the material is light coloured or white to reduce solar heat gain. The material may have a camouflage look or, if desired, an ornamental pattern and! or other graphics or text on its exterior surface. In the latter case the graphics or text might relate to a council logo or corporate brand or emblem, eg royal emblems for a royal wedding.

Claims

Claims 1. A liner for hanging baskets that comprises a concave-shaped form of an impermeable plastics material and which has: i) a perforated upper in use region; and U) a non-perforated lower in use region that functions in use as a moisture reservoir.
2. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in claim 1, wherein the perforated upper in use region is perforated for drainage to prevent the basket from being water-logged.
3. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the perforated upper in use region is perforated by an array of apertures larger than 1 cm that allow for insertion of plug plants.
4. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in claim 3, wherein the apertures are arcuate or half-moon shaped.
5. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in claim 3 or 4, wherein the apertures are formed by an incision or series of incisions in the material so that the material can be lifted or pushed in to form a flap.
6. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the perforations! apertures are arrayed at intervals all around the basket.
7. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the concave shaped form of impermeable plastics material has a shape that is at least approximately hemi-spherical or approximately frusto-hemi-spherical to seat comfortably within a correspondingly-shaped basket.
8. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the material is pre-formed substantially to the required shape.
9. A liner for hanging baskets that comprises a concave-shaped form of an impermeable plastics material configured to fit as a liner within a hanging basket wherein the plastics material is plastics film is pre-formed substantially to the required shape.
10. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the liner is circular in plan and provided in a range of different diameters.
11. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the liner is of polyethylene.
12. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the liner is of plastics material designed to biodegrade.
13. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the liner is light coloured or white to reduce solar heat gain.
14. A liner for hanging baskets as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the liner has a camouflage look or an ornamental pattern and! or other graphics or text on its exterior surface.
15. A liner for hanging baskets substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.