Method for transporting floral groupings

A method for preparing a plant package assembly for delivery to a predetermined location and for transporting the plant package assembly thereto. The plant package assembly comprises a plurality of floral groupings disposed within floral containers. Each floral container is bondingly connected at its base to a support surface by a bonding material disposed on the floral container base, the floral container positioned in a vertical orientation.

BACKGROUND 
The present invention is related to methods for transporting plant 
packages, and to the plant package assemblies prepared for such 
transportation, particularly wherein the plant packages are connected to a 
surface for minimizing disturbance of the plant packages.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention comprises a method for delivering a plant package to 
a predetermined destination such as a florist shop or grocery store. The 
method includes the steps of (1) providing a support surface, (2) 
providing a plurality of plant packages, each plant package comprising a 
floral container and a floral grouping disposed within the floral 
container, wherein each floral container has an exterior bottom surface 
upon which is disposed a connecting bonding material, (3) disposing each 
plant package on the support surface and causing the bonding material on 
the exterior bottom surface of the plant package to engage and bondingly 
connect to the support surface via the connecting bonding material, 
thereby positioning the plant package in a substantially vertical 
orientation, and (4) transporting the support surface with the plant 
packages bondingly connected thereto to the predetermined destination. The 
plant packages may then be sold, repackaged, or subjected to further 
processing. 
Alternatively, the support surface may further comprise a second connecting 
bonding material disposed upon a portion thereof for cooperating with the 
connecting bonding material of the floral container to assist in bondingly 
connecting the floral container to the support surface. 
The connecting bonding material of the floral container and the second 
connecting bonding material of the support surface are preferably cohesive 
materials. Preferably, the support surface is the interior bottom surface 
of a box or carton. 
The floral container may be a pot means contained within an external 
decorative or protective covering such as a flower pot cover. Or, the 
floral container may be a vase constructed, for example, from a sheet of 
material and once formed comprises a plurality of overlapping connected 
folds. 
When the floral container is a vase, the vase may further comprise, an 
upper end, a closed lower end having a bottom, an upper end opening, and a 
peripheral wall extending from the closed lower end to the upper end, the 
peripheral wall having an outer surface and an inner surface which 
encompasses and defines an inner space. The bottom of the closed lower end 
has an outer surface continuous with the outer surface of the peripheral 
wall and an inner surface continuous with the inner surface of the 
peripheral wall, and the peripheral wall preferably comprises a plurality 
of folds in the sheet of material with adjacent portions of at least some 
of the folds being connected via a bonding material to form connected 
folds, which connected folds cooperate to maintain the vase in the shape 
of a vase. 
Further, when the floral container is a vase, the sheet of material may be 
defined further as being constructed of a material and have a thickness 
whereby the formed vase is flexible and may be substantially flattened and 
unflattened to assume the original shape of the formed vase without 
substantial loss of the preformed shape thereby providing the flexible, 
yet shape-sustaining nature of the formed vase. The vase may be further 
defined as being shaped whereby the formed vase includes a skirt extending 
a distance from the upper end thereof. 
Also, when the container is a vase, the plurality of overlapping folds may 
comprise a substantial number folds which extend at arbitrary angles to a 
vertical direction and at arbitrary angles to a horizontal direction and 
extend over different and arbitrary distances. The method may also 
comprise the additional step of removing the plant packages from the 
support surface at the predetermined destination. Also, the floral 
container may further comprise a floral holding material or growth medium 
disposed within the interior space of the floral container. In other 
embodiments, the sheet of material may have a label disposed thereon. In 
addition, the sheet of material may have a bonding material for enabling a 
label, note, card, or other information delivery means to be attached to 
the sheet of material. The container may further comprise a release strip 
for covering the bonding material prior to use of the bonding material to 
engage a surface. 
The sheet of material used to form the container may further comprise a 
sheet extension which extends from the upper end of the sheet of material 
after the sheet of material has been formed into a vase. When present, 
such a sheet extension serves as a protective wrap about a portion of the 
floral grouping. 
The present invention is also drawn to a method for preparing a plant 
package assembly for transport to a predetermined destination. The method 
has the steps of (1) providing a support surface, (2) providing a 
plurality of floral containers, each floral container having an exterior 
bottom surface upon which is disposed a connecting bonding material, (3) 
disposing each floral container on the support surface and causing the 
bonding material on the exterior bottom surface of the floral container to 
engage and bondingly connect to the support surface via the connecting 
bonding material, thereby positioning the floral container in a 
substantially vertical orientation, (4) providing a plurality of floral 
groupings, and (5) disposing at least a portion of a floral grouping into 
each floral container, thereby forming a plant package comprising a floral 
grouping and a floral container, the plant packages and the support 
surface together comprising the plant package assembly ready for transport 
to the predetermined destination. 
Another version of the invention contemplates the plant package assembly 
itself which is prepared for transport to a predetermined destination, the 
assembly comprises a support surface, and a plurality of vertically 
oriented plant packages which are bondingly connected to the support 
surface. Each plant package further comprises, a floral container which 
has an exterior bottom surface upon which is disposed a connecting bonding 
material for bondingly connecting the floral container to the support 
surface in a vertical orientation. The floral container is bondingly 
connected via the connecting bonding material to the support surface such 
that the floral container is positioned in a substantially vertical 
orientation. Each plant package also comprises a floral grouping having a 
stem end. At least a portion of the stem end of the floral grouping is 
disposed within the floral container. The floral container may have a 
floral holding material disposed therein. 
The invention will be described in more detail below. Shown in FIG. 1 and 
designated by the general reference numeral 10 is a sheet of material 
constructed in accordance with the present invention. The sheet 10 has a 
first outer edge 12, a second outer edge 14, a third outer edge 16, a 
fourth outer edge 18, a first surface 20 and a second surface 22. A 
bonding material 24 is disposed upon a portion of the second surface 22, 
preferably near the center of the second surface 22. The sheet of material 
10 may be formed into a container such as the vase designated by the 
general reference numeral 26 in FIG. 2 by using the method described in 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,182. The vase 26 has an upper end 28, a lower end 30, 
an outer peripheral surface 32, a plurality of overlapping folds 33 and in 
general has a floral grouping 34 disposed within the vase 26. The vase 26 
in FIG. 2 the bonding material 24 is disposed upon a portion of the lower 
end 30 of the vase 26. The bonding material 24 may be covered by a release 
strip (not shown) which covers the surface of the bonding material 24 and 
which can be removed from the bonding material 24 to expose the bonding 
material 24 for bondingly connecting to a support surface when desired. 
The sheet of material 10 may have a thickness in a range of from about 0.1 
mils to about 30 mils. Preferably, the sheet of material 10 has a 
thickness in a range from about 0.2 mils to about 10 mils. More 
preferably, the sheet of material 10 has a thickness of from about 0.5 
mils to about 5 mils. 
The sheet of material 10 may be any shape and a square or rectangular shape 
is shown in FIG. 1 only by way of example. The sheet of material 10, may, 
for example, be square, rectangular, circular or any other geometric shape 
such as heart-shaped, or any other shape which enhances the function of 
the sheet for the purpose disclosed herein. 
The sheet of material 10 may be constructed of a single layer of material 
or a plurality of layers of the same or different types of materials. Any 
thickness of the sheet of material 10 may be utilized in accordance with 
the present invention as long as the sheet of material 10 is wrappable 
about a vase, in particular a bud vase, as described herein. The layers of 
material comprising the sheet of material 10 may be connected together or 
laminated or may be separate layers. 
The sheet of material 10 may be used in conjunction with a second sheet of 
material (not shown) which may be sized the same or smaller than the sheet 
10. If used, the second sheet of material has a thickness in a range from 
0.1 mils to about 30 mils and preferably in a range from about 0.2 mils to 
about 10 mils. The second sheet of material is flexible, but may be 
somewhat more rigid compared to the first sheet of material 10. 
The sheet of material 10 may further comprise a sheet extension which 
extends from the upper end of the sheet of material after the sheet of 
material has been formed into a vase wherein the sheet extension (not 
shown) serves as a protective wrap about the floral grouping. 
The vases described herein may be constructed using a method described in 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,182 which is hereby specifically incorporated herein 
by reference in its entirety. Another method of forming a vase which can 
be used in accordance with the present invention is described in U.S. Pat. 
No. 5,176,609 which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by 
reference. A vase thus formed comprises a plurality of overlapping folds 
which are substantially vertically oriented and are Z-shaped in cross 
section and wherein the peripheral wall of the container further comprises 
a plurality of flat panels which comprise substantially no folds. 
Other examples of vases formed from sheets of material can be found in the 
specification of the U.S. patent application titled "Vase for Containing a 
Floral Grouping", filed by Donald E. Weder on May 13, 1994, under the 
Express Mail Number TB379042587 U.S., Attorney Docket Number 8401.493, the 
specification of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
By "vase" is meant a vessel, substantially higher than it is wide, which is 
used to hold a floral grouping or other decoration. More particularly, the 
height of the vase is generally at least three to five times greater than 
the narrowest diameter. When used herein the term "bud vase" refers to a 
vase for holding just one to several cut flowers or buds. 
The term "vase" refers to any type of container used for holding a floral 
grouping or single floral cuttings. "Floral grouping" as used herein means 
cut fresh flowers, artificial flowers, a single flower either fresh and/or 
artificial plants or other floral materials and may include other 
secondary plants and/or ornamentation or artificial or natural materials 
which add to the aesthetics of the overall floral arrangement. The floral 
grouping generally comprises a bloom or foliage portion and a stem 
portion. However, it will be appreciated that the floral grouping may 
consist of only a single bloom or only foliage (not shown). The term 
"floral grouping" may be used interchangeably herein with the term "floral 
arrangement". 
The sheet of material 10 and the second sheet of material (if used) may be 
constructed of a single layer of material or a plurality of layers of the 
same or different types of materials. Any thickness of the sheet of 
material 10 may be utilized in accordance with the present invention as 
long as the sheet of material 10 may be formed into a vase for containing 
a floral grouping, in the manner described herein. 
Additionally, an insulating material such as bubble film, preferable as one 
of two or more layers, can be utilized in order to provide additional 
protection for the item contained in the vase. 
In a preferred embodiment, the sheet of material 10 is constructed from two 
polypropylene films laminated together (e.g. a polypropylene film such as 
Mobil 220 AB clear film laminated to a sheet of Mobil 270 ABW white opaque 
film). The sheet of material 10 is constructed from any suitable wrapping 
material that is capable of being formed into a vase for containing a 
floral grouping. Preferably, the sheet of material 10 comprises a paper 
(untreated or treated in any manner), cellophane, foil, polymer film, 
fabric (woven or nonwoven or synthetic or natural), burlap, or 
combinations thereof. The term "polymer film" means a man-made polymer 
such as a polypropylene or a naturally occurring polymer such as 
cellophane. A polymer film is relatively strong and not as subject to 
tearing (substantially non-tearable), as might be the case with paper or 
foil. 
The sheet of material 10 may vary in color. Further, the sheet of material 
10 may consist of designs or decorative patterns which are printed, 
etched, and/or embossed thereon using inks or other printing materials. An 
example of an ink which may be applied to the surface of the sheet of 
material 10 is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,706, entitled "Water Based 
Ink On Foil And/Or Synthetic Organic Polymer", issued to Kingman on Sep. 
15, 1992 and which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. In 
addition, the sheet of material 10 may have various colorings, coatings, 
flocking and/or metallic finishes, or other decorative surface 
ornamentation applied separately or simultaneously or may be characterized 
totally or partially by pearlescent, translucent, transparent, iridescent 
or the like, qualities. Each of the above-named characteristics may occur 
alone or in combination and may be applied to the upper and/or lower 
surface of the sheet of material 10 or to near the upper end 16 or to near 
the lower end 18 of the sheet 10. Moreover, each surface of the sheet of 
material 10 may vary in the combination of such characteristics. The sheet 
of material 10 itself may be opaque, translucent or partially clear or 
tinted transparent. 
The sheet of material 10 may also be constructed in part, from a cling 
material. "Cling Wrap or Material" when used herein means any material 
which is capable of connecting to itself upon contacting engagement during 
the wrapping process and is wrappable about an item whereby portions of 
the cling material contactingly engage and connect to other portions of 
another material, or, alternatively, itself, for generally partially 
forming a portion of a vase. 
The cling material is constructed and treated if necessary, from 
polyethylene such as Cling Wrap made by Glad.RTM., First Brands 
Corporation, Danbury, Conn. The cling material will range in thickness 
from less than about 0.1 mils to about 10 mils, and preferably less than 
about 0.5 mils to about 2.5 mils and most preferably from less than about 
0.6 mils to about 2 mils. However, any thickness of cling material may be 
utilized in accordance with the present invention which permits the cling 
material to function as described herein. 
Shown in FIG. 3 is a plurality of vases such as the vase 26 disposed in a 
vertical orientation within a carton 40. A carton 40 has an inner 
peripheral side surface 42, an outer peripheral surface 44, an inner 
bottom surface 46, and an inner retaining space 48 which is defined by the 
inner peripheral side surface 42 and the inner bottom surface 46. As is 
seen in FIG. 3 the plurality of vases 26 are connectingly bonded to the 
inner bottom surface 46 via the connecting bonding material 24 on the 
bottom surface of the lower end 30 of the vase 26. Each vase 26 then is 
firmly anchored in an upright vertical orientation upon the surface 46 in 
the carton 40 via the bonding material 24. It will be appreciated by one 
of ordinary skill in the art that the vase shapes displayed herein are but 
a small sample of the great variety of shapes of vases which may be formed 
to function in accordance with the present invention. 
The plurality of vases 26 with the floral groupings disposed therein are 
now ready for delivery or shipment to another location. Shown in FIG. 4 
and designated by the general reference numeral 40a is an alternate 
version of the container for containing a plurality of floral containers 
such as the vase 26. The carton 40a has a inner bottom surface 46a having 
thereon a plurality of at least one bonding strip 48 for adhering a vase 
such as vase 26 which is exactly the same as the vase described above 
except that it does not have a bonding material 24 on the bottom surface 
thereof. Although the bonding material 48 is shown in FIG. 4 as comprising 
a continuous strip, the bonding material may instead be disposed upon the 
support surface 46a in any other geometric form or pattern including spots 
or designs. One method for disposing a bonding material on the sheet of 
material, in this case an adhesive or cohesive, is described in U.S. Pat. 
No. 5,111,637, entitled "Method For Wrapping A Floral Grouping", issued to 
Weder et al., on May 12, 1992 and which is hereby incorporated herein by 
reference. 
The term "bonding material or bonding means" when used herein means an 
adhesive, frequently a pressure sensitive adhesive, or a cohesive or any 
other bonding material which functions as a bonding material in accordance 
with the invention described herein. When the bonding material is a 
cohesive, a similar cohesive material must be present on the surface which 
the vase will be disposed on to be bondingly contacted and bondingly 
connected with the cohesive material. 
Shown in FIG. 5 is an example of a carton 40a which is exactly the same as 
the carton 40a described in FIG. 4 except that the strip of bonding 
material 48 on the inner bottom surface 46a is not an adhesive but is a 
cohesive material which cohesively binds or bonds to a cohesive material 
defined as the bonding material 24 on the lower surface on each of the 
vases 26 disposed in the carton 40a. 
A floral holding medium (such as foam) 49 is shown disposed within the 
inner space of the vase 26 and functions to hold a portion of the floral 
grouping 34, for providing moisture or nutrients, or for providing 
additional weight to the vase 26 described herein to counterbalance the 
floral grouping 34. The floral holding medium 49 may further comprise a 
growing medium for extending the life of the floral grouping 34 disposed 
within the inner space of the vase 26. Such floral holding materials 49 
are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art and are commercially 
available. 
The floral grouping 34 generally comprises a bloom portion and a stem 
portion. Further, the floral grouping 34 may comprise a root portion (not 
shown) as well. However, it will be appreciated that the floral grouping 
may consist of only a single bloom or only foliage, or a botanical item 
(not shown), or a propagule (not shown). The term "floral grouping" may 
also be used interchangeably herein with the terms "botanical item" and/or 
"propagule". 
The term "growing medium" when used herein means any liquid, solid or 
gaseous material used for plant growth or for the cultivation of 
propagules, including organic and inorganic materials such as soil, humus, 
perlite, vermiculite, sand, water and including the nutrients, fertilizers 
or hormones or combinations thereof required by the plants or propagules 
for growth. 
The term "botanical item" when used herein means a natural or artificial 
herbaceous or woody plant, taken singly or in combination. The term 
"botanical item" also means any portion or portions of natural or 
artificial herbaceous or woody plants including stems, leaves, flowers, 
blossoms, buds, blooms, cones, or roots, taken singly or in combination, 
or in groupings of such portions such as bouquet or floral grouping. 
The term "propagule" when used herein means any structure capable of being 
propagated or acting as an agent of reproduction including seeds, shoots, 
stems, runners, tubers, plants, leaves, roots or spores. The floral 
holding material 49 is added to the vase after the vase has been 
constructed. 
FIG. 6 shows another version of the carton, the carton designated therein 
by the general reference numeral 40b. The carton 40b has an inner bottom 
surface 46b. Shown in FIG. 6 is a vase designated by the general reference 
numeral 26a which has a metallic plate or strip disposed on the inner 
bottom surface 46b of the vase 26a. An example of a magnetic strip is that 
which is commercially available and which has an adhesive backing for 
attaching to a surface. Also disposed on the inner bottom surface 46b is a 
metallic strip 52. It can be seen in the FIG. 6 then that each vase 26a is 
disposed in a vertical position wherein the magnetic plate 50 of the vase 
26a magnetically engages the magnetic strip 52 of the surface 46b for 
maintaining the vase 26a in a vertical orientation optimal for delivery. 
It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that any number 
of types of floral containers may be anchored in a carton using the 
technology discussed herein. For example, shown in FIG. 7 is plant package 
56 comprising a plant cover such as that designated by the general 
reference numeral 62 covers a potted plant 58 having disposed therein a 
floral grouping 60. Disposed on the bottom end 64 of the plant cover 62 is 
a bonding material 66 for enabling the plant package 56 to be adhesively 
or bondingly engaged to the inner bottom surface 46 of the carton 40 for 
ease of transport. 
Shown in FIG. 8 is a carton which is exactly the same as the carton 40a 
described in FIG. 4 showing a plant package 56 similar to the plant 
package 56 of FIG. 7 but which has disposed on the lower surface thereof a 
bonding material 66 which comprises a cohesive material for bonding to a 
cohesive material 48 which is disposed upon the inner bottom surface 46a 
of the carton 40a. 
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 9, a 
carton 40c comprises a plurality of sheets 68 which have disposed thereon 
a plurality of portions of bonding material 70 which may be an adhesive 
for causing the bonding of a floral container such as the floral container 
26b shown in the FIG. 9 for maintaining the floral container in a vertical 
orientation during delivery or shipment. 
After one or more usages of the bonding material on the sheet 68, the sheet 
68 may be removed from the carton thus revealing a fresh sheet 68 with 
fresh bonding material 70 which has not been used thereby free of various 
accumulated materials which may affect the bonding ability of the bonding 
material 70, and thereby its ability to maintain the vases in a vertical 
orientation. 
Shown in FIG. 10 is an alternative version of the carton designated by the 
general reference numeral 40d. The carton 40d has disposed upon the inner 
bottom surface 46d a plurality of sheets of material 46a. None of the 
sheets of material have bonding material disposed thereon for bonding to 
floral containers disposed within the carton. However, the carton 40d can 
be used to contain a plurality of containers such as those shown as FIG. 2 
having a bonding material 24 disposed upon the bottom surface of the 
floral container 26. A number of floral containers 26 can thus be shipped 
and vertically stored in the container 40d. Once each sheet 68a has been 
soiled or otherwise rendered inoperable, the upper sheet 68a can be 
removed revealing a fresh sheet for use in storing and shipping the floral 
containers 26. 
Changes may be made in the construction and the operation of the various 
components, elements and assemblies described herein or in the steps or 
the sequence of steps of the methods described herein without departing 
from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following 
claims.