Abstract:
A garden pot assembly comprising a pot having an open upper end and a separator tray snap-fitted into the open upper end of the pot. The separator tray has a plurality of spaced-apart plant pot receiving openings formed therein each of which are adapted to receive and support a plant pot therein. The bottom of the pot has a unique structure including a central hub and a plurality of radially extending stand-offs extending outwardly therefrom to the periphery of the bottom wall. The pot or container may be circular, oval, rectangular or square in shape.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a garden pot assembly which is comprised of a pot having an open upper end and which has a plant separator or arrangement tray snap-fitted within the upper end of the pot with the tray having a plurality of spaced-apart plant pot receiving and supporting openings formed therein. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Dish gardens and gardening or garden pots are frequently used to plant a plurality of different species of indoor plants in a shallow dish or pot so that the plants look like a garden scene. It is generally understood that the only difference between a dish garden and a gardening or garden pot is that actual dishware is used in dish gardens. 
     Planted dish gardens have a number of inherent flaws. The plants in planted dish gardens are usually incompatible in terms of water requirements. Watering one plant adequately will likely result in over-watering another plant which may result in root rot. Invariably, one of the plants in the design will fail before the others fail and there is no simple means of replacing the bad plant. Further, consumers do not like to see soil and many dish garden producers find it necessary to add moss to mask the soil surface. This is costly and may also lead to rotting of the lower leaves of the plant. Assembling planted dish gardens is very labor intensive making the product expensive and making it difficult to accommodate last minute orders. A further concern with the prior art dish gardens and gardening pots are that they are expensive and difficult to assemble. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key aspects or essential aspects of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, this Summary is not intended for use as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     A garden pot assembly is disclosed which is comprised of a pot having an open upper end and a plant separator or arrangement tray snap-fitted within the upper end of the pot. The assembly of this invention includes a pot having a horizontally disposed circular bottom wall with the pot having a generally cylindrical lower side wall, having upper and lower ends, extending upwardly and outwardly from the periphery of the bottom wall. A ring-shaped shelf, having inner and outer ends, extends laterally outwardly from the upper end of the lower side wall. A generally cylindrical upper side wall, having upper and lower ends, extends upwardly and outwardly from the outer end of the shelf. The lower end of the upper side wall has a snap-in ring groove formed therein which extends laterally outwardly therefrom at the juncture of the upper side wall and the shelf. 
     The bottom wall of the pot has a hub which extends upwardly therefrom at the center thereof. A plurality of elongated, upstanding, spaced-apart stand-offs extend radially outwardly from the hub to the periphery of the bottom wall. 
     The separator tray of this invention includes a horizontally disposed circular top wall and an outer side wall which extends downwardly from the periphery of the top wall with the outer side wall having upper and lower ends. A stabilizing snap-ring is provided at the lower end of the outer side wall of the separator tray which extends laterally outwardly therefrom for selective reception in the snap-ring groove in the lower end of the upper side wall of the pot. The top wall of the separator tray has first, second and third spaced-apart plant pot receiving openings formed therein, each of which are adapted to receive and support a plant pot therein. 
     It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide an improved garden pot assembly. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide a garden pot assembly which may be circular, rectangular, square or oval shaped in plan view. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide a garden pot assembly which is inexpensive to manufacture. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide a garden pot which is easy to assemble. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide a garden pot which is visually appealing. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide a garden pot assembly including a pot having a separator tray snap-fitted into the upper end thereof with the separator tray having a plurality of spaced-apart plant pot receiving openings formed therein each of which are adapted to receive and support a plant pot therein. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide a garden pot assembly wherein the pot of the assembly includes a unique bottom structure. 
     These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the following figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views unless otherwise specified. 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of the garden pot assembly of his invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the pot of the garden pot assembly of this invention: 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the separator tray of the garden pot assembly of this invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a partial sectional view of the pot of the garden pot assembly of this invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a partial perspective view of a portion of the separator tray with a portion thereof cut-away to more fully illustrate the invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a sectional view of one plant pot fully positioned in the garden pot assembly and one plant pot being partially inserted into the garden pot assembly; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view illustrating three different species of plants within the garden pot assembly which is covered with a decorative wrap; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a second form of the separator tray; 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a third form of the separator tray; 
         FIG. 10  is a perspective view of a fourth form of the separator tray; and 
         FIG. 11  is a perspective view of a fifth form of the separator tray. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Embodiments are described more fully below with reference to the accompanying figures, which form a part hereof and show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments. These embodiments are disclosed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. However, embodiments may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense in that the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims. 
     The numeral  10  refers to the garden pot assembly of this invention which is comprised of a pot  12  and a plant separator or arrangement tray  14 , both of which are preferably comprised of a plastic material such as polyethylene terephthalate. 
     Pot  12  includes a circular bottom wall  16  having an upstanding hub  18  at the center thereof. A plurality of upstanding and radially spaced supports, ribs or stand-offs  20  extend outwardly from the lower end of hub  18  to the periphery of the bottom wall  16 . As seen, the upper ends of the stand-offs  20  dwell in a plane below the upper end of the hub  18 . Pot  12  includes a tapered generally cylindrical lower side wall section  22  which extends upwardly and outwardly from the periphery of bottom wall  16 . The upper end of lower side wall section  22  terminates in a laterally extending ledge or shelf  24 . Pot  12  also includes an upper side wall section  26  which extends upwardly and outwardly from the outer end of ledge  24 . A small lip  28  extends laterally outwardly from the upper end of the upper side wall section  26 . An outwardly extending ring snap-in groove  30  is formed in the lower end of upper wall section  26  at its juncture with ledge  24 . 
     Separator tray  14  includes a circular, horizontally disposed top wall  32 , having an outer side wall  34  extending downwardly from the periphery thereof. The lower end of side wall  34  has a snap-ring  36  extending laterally outwardly therefrom. The side wall  34  has three cut-outs  38 ,  40  and  42  formed therein primarily to conserve plastic material. In the cut-outs  38 ,  40  and  42 , the snap-ring  36  Includes an upwardly extending rib  44  for strengthening purposes. 
     Top wall  32  has three semi-circular plant pot receiving openings  46 ,  48  and  50  formed therein, the outer ends of which communicate with cut-outs  38 ,  40  and  42  respectively. If the cut-outs  38 ,  40  and  42  are not formed in the tray  14 , the openings  46 ,  48  and  50  will be circular. A vertically disposed semi-circular wall portion  52  extends downwardly from top wall  32  in opening  46  and has a horizontally disposed semi-circular ledge or shelf  54  extending laterally from the lower end thereof. A vertically disposed semi-circular wall portion  56  extends downwardly from the outer end of ledge  54 . A circular lip  58  extends laterally from the lower end of wall portion  56 . As seen, the lip  58  has a portion thereof which is integrally formed with the snap-ring  36  in the cut-out  38 . If the openings  46 ,  48  and  50  are circular, wall portion  52  will be circular, ledge  54  will be circular, wall portion  56  will be circular and lip  58  will be circular. Inasmuch as the semi-circular wall portion, semi-circular ledge or shelf, semi-circular wall portion and lip associated with the openings  48  and  50  are identical to that just described with respect to opening  46 , that structure will not be described in detail. 
     The numeral  60  refers to plant pots which are inserted into the openings  46 ,  48  and  50 . Each of the plant pots  60  have a lip  62  which extends outwardly from the upper end thereof. Each of the bottoms  64  of the plant pots  60  have drainage openings  66  formed therein A different plant species will normally be planted in each of the plant pots  60 . 
     The garden pot assembly  10  is assembled and used as will now be described. The separator tray  14  is inserted downwardly into the open upper end of the pot  12  until the snap-ring  36  of the tray  14  is snap-fitted into the snap-ring groove  30 , as seen in  FIGS. 4 and 6 . The positioning of the snap-ring  36  in the ring snap-in groove  30  stabilizes the tray  14  and ensures that the tray  14  will remain in the proper position. 
     Each of the plant pots  60  will be filled with a different plant species. If necessary, soil or other material may be added to the plant pot. The plant pots  60  are then inserted downwardly into the openings  44 ,  48  and  50  until the lips or flanges  62 , at the upper end of the pots  60 , rest on the ledges  54  or until the bottoms  64  thereof, which have drainage openings  66  formed therein, rest on the stand-offs  20 . The lower ends of the plant pots  60  will be maintained in the proper position by the hub  18  as seen in  FIG. 6 . 
     Although the preferred shape of the pot  12  and the separator  14  is that shown in  FIGS. 1-7 , the pot  12  and the tray  14  may have different shapes.  FIG. 8  illustrates a separator tray  14 A which is square-shaped to fit into a pot having a square shape.  FIG. 9  illustrates a tray  14 B which is rectangular so as to fit into a pot having a rectangular shape.  FIG. 10  illustrates a tray  14 C which is circular, having four plant pot receiving openings formed therein.  FIG. 11  illustrates a tray  14 C which is rectangular but which has four plant pot receiving openings formed therein. 
     The trays may have any number of plant pot openings formed therein. Further, the diameters of the plant pot openings may vary so as to have different diameters in a single tray. 
     The individual plant pots  60  will be individually watered in an amount dependent upon the particular plant species therein. Excess water draining from the bottoms of the plant pots  60  will collect between the stand-offs  20 . If the plants are not going to be watered for several days or so, water may be added to the bottom of the pot  12  so that the water level in the pat  12  will initially be above the stand-offs  20  to enable water to pass upwardly into the plant pots  60  through the drainage openings  66  in the bottoms  64  thereof. 
     The garden pot assembly of this invention permits the individual watering of the different plant species as stated above. The garden pot assembly  10  is easily assembled and is stable in use. The garden pot assembly  10  is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and is reusable. 
     Thus, it can be seen that the invention accomplishes at least l of its stated objectives. 
     Although the invention has been described in language that is specific to certain structures and methodological steps, it is to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific structures and/or steps described. Rather, the specific aspects and steps are described as forms of implementing the claimed invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be practiced without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.