Field stand for a potted plant

Abstract

A field stand used to support and prevent accidental toppling of potted plants in outdoor field applications is disclosed. The field stand uses a two piece detachable design, which includes a tubular metal boot and a detachable wire basket. The tubular metal boot is designed to be driven into the soil as an anchor for the detachable wire basket. The metal boot has an elongated tubular body with a pointed bottom end and an open top end for receiving the wire basket. The wire basket is constructed of three individual strands of a resilient metal wire, which are bent from the body of the basket and whose ends are bundled together to form an elongated neck. The neck extends into the open end of the boot to securely seat the basket atop the boot.

I claim:  
     
         1 . A field stand for securely supporting a plant bedded in a potting container in an outdoor field to prevent the potting container from toppling, the stand comprising: 
 a boot adapted for being partially driven into the soil; and a basket detachably connecting to the boot,    the basket constituting means for restrictively receiving the potting container, and the boot constituting means for anchoring the basket in an upright orientation above the soil when the basket is connected to the boot and the boot is embedded in the ground.    
     
     
         2 . The field stand of  claim 1  wherein the basket including a body having an interior for restrictively receiving the potting container therein, and an elongated neck extending from the body for connecting the basket to the boot.  
     
     
         3 . The field stand of  claim 2  wherein the boot has an elongated tubular body having one end adapted for being driving into the soil and an opposite end having an opening therein for receiving the neck of the basket therein to connect the basket to the boot.  
     
     
         4 . The field stand of  claim 2  wherein the basket body includes a bottom and plurality of sides, the potting container seated atop the bottom and restrictively held between the plurality of sides when the potting container is received within the interior of the basket body.  
     
     
         5 . The field stand of  claim 4  wherein the basket body is constructed of a plurality of resilient metal wire strands bent to form the bottom and plurality of sides of the basket body.  
     
     
         6 . A hand tool, which is used with a field stand that includes a tubular boot for securely anchoring the field stand and a potting container in an upright position above the soil and has an open end, for driving the boot into the soil, the tool comprising: 
 a ram for driving the boot into the soil;    a head mounted to the ram for guiding the boot into the ground and preventing the boot from damages as the boot is driven into the soil; and    a weighted tubular sleeve slidably seated over the length of the ram for manually impacting the ram to drive the boot into the soil.    
     
     
         7 . The tool of  claim 6  wherein the head includes a shank for extending into the open end of the boot and an annular flange for overlying the open end of the boot.  
     
     
         8 . In combination, a field stand for securely supporting a plant bedded in a potting container in an outdoor field to prevent the potting container from toppling, and which includes a tubular boot having an open end; and a hand tool for anchoring the boot into the soil, the tool comprising: 
 an ram for driving the boot into the soil;    a head mounted to the ram for guiding the boot into the ground and preventing the boot from damages as the boot is driven into the soil; and    a weighted tubular sleeve slidably seated over the length of the ram for manually impacting the ram to drive the boot into the soil.    
     
     
         9 . The tool of  claim 8  wherein the head includes a shank for extending into the open end of the boot and an annular flange for overlying the open end of the boot.