Horticultural aid

A horticultural aid, particularly for topiary work, has a pair of frame members, each having an open side, with the open sides facing one another, mounted on a support bar for limited movement toward and away from one another. The frames have elastic netting mounted in the frames and arranged to embrace the small trunk or limb of the plant to be trimmed to catch the trimmings. The device is provided with a handle, and the frame members are biased toward one another.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In topiary work, especially in rock gardens and the like, cuttings from the 
plant being trimmed or shaped fall into crevasses in the rocks and are 
hard to remove. 
One of the objects of this invention is to provide a horticultural aid to 
permit trimmings from plants to be caught and removed easily. 
Another object is to provide such a device that is light, simple, and easy 
to use. 
Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light 
of the following description and accompanying drawing. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with this invention, generally stated, a horticultural aid is 
provided which includes a handle, a support bar connected to the handle, a 
pair of frame members having open sides facing one another mounted on the 
support bar for limited movement toward and away from one another, and 
elastic netting mounted in the frame members and arranged to embrace a 
small trunk or limb of a plant to be trimmed. In the preferred embodiment, 
the frame members are pivoted to the support bar and springs bias the 
frame members toward one another.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawing for one illustrative embodiment of device of 
this invention, reference numeral 1 indicates the assembled device. The 
device 1 has a handle 2, a support bar 3 to the center of which the handle 
2 is attached, and a pair of frame members, left frame 4 and right frame 
5, pivotly mounted on the support bar 3. 
Each of the frames 4 and 5 is made up of a bottom rail 6, a side rail 7, 
and a top rail 8 joined securely to define a C-shaped frame with one open 
side. The frames are mounted with their open sides facing one another, as 
shown in the drawing. 
The frames are pivotally mounted to the support bar by means of pins 9 
fixed to and projecting upwardly from the support bar, and extending into 
holes through the bottom rails near the facing ends of the bottom rails 6. 
The pins 9 are headed, or provided with capnuts or the like to prevent the 
inadvertent removal of the frames from the pivot pins. 
Near the junction of the bottom rails 6 and the side rails 7, the bottom 
rails 6 are provided with outer or link pivot pins 10, to which one end of 
a link 11 is pivotally mounted. The other end of each link 11 is pivotally 
mounted on a sleeve 13, by means of pivot pins 14. The sleeve 13 is 
slidably mounted on the handle 2. 
Springs 15 are mounted at one end on the side rail 7 of each frame and at 
the other end on the support bar 3. The springs are tension springs, and 
are in tension, so as to bias the frames 4 and 5 continuously toward one 
another around the pivot 9. 
In the operation of the device, when it is to be placed around a stem or 
trunk of a plant to be trimmed, the sleeve 13 is moved manually with 
respect to the handle toward the outer end of the handle, as shown in FIG. 
3, to cause the frames 4 and 5 to move away from one another at their 
outer ends. The device is then put in position with respect to the trunk, 
and the sleeve released, whereupon the springs 15 will cause the frames to 
move to the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, embracing the trunk or stem. 
The netting 17 can be of the nature of plastic screen, nylon netting or 
the like, which has enough give or elasticity to conform to the contour of 
the trunk, also as shown in FIG. 1. When the trimming is finished, the 
cuttings will be lying on top of the screen, and if the sleeve is then 
pulled back against the bias of the springs, and the device carefully 
removed, the cuttings will all be on top of the screen where they can be 
removed to a trash bag or the like. 
Numerous variations in the construction of the device of this invention, 
within the scope of the appended claims, will occur to those skilled in 
the art in the light of the foregoing disclosure. Merely by way of 
example, the frame can be given a different shape, as by bowing the side 
frame 7 to streamline the shape of the frame. The pivoting arrangement can 
also be varied, for example, if the support bar is elongated to the point 
at which the pivots 9 can be put in the position of the pivots 10, the 
links 11 can be pivoted to pivots at the position of the present pivots 9, 
or the sleeve itself can be connected pivotally to the frame at the 
position of the pivots 9. The shape of the handle, the arrangement of the 
slide on the handle, the types of springs and their position, can all be 
changed. For example, a compression spring can be positioned around the 
handle within a cavity in the sleeve, one end of the spring being mounted 
to the handle between the outer end of the handle and an abutment within 
the sleeve cavity. The support bar can take the form of a channel, opening 
toward the frames, with the bottom rails within the channel, and a pivot 
pin extending between the walls of the channel. The facing ends of the top 
rails can be contoured to provide a V-shaped mouth to facilitate entrance 
of the trunk or stem. It may, for some purposes, be unnecessary to provide 
the sleeve and link arrangement to open the frames, particularly if a 
mouth is provided, the thrust toward the trunk being sufficient to wedge 
open the frames and admit the trunk. To make the nets easily replaceable, 
eyelets or the like can be provided around the frame, with laces, or 
strips of Velcro or the like can be placed on the frame and around the 
outer margins of the net. Triangular gussets of net can be attached to the 
outer side of the bottom rails and to the inner edge of the links 11. 
These variations are merely illustrative.