East Hampton - Blue & Cream celebrates the renewal of its lease by building an eco-friendly garden next to boutique by iGreen, an eco-friendly garden and landscape company.

Keeping in mind the theme of an eco-friendly, sustainable and recycled, iGreen owner Curtis Eaves rescued the maple and azaleas in the lot next to the boutique. "The rescued maple and azaleas are classic plants for a Japanese style garden," explained Eaves, "so we decided to go with a Zen-like green garden space where patrons could sit down and relax and enjoy the tranquility of the reclaimed garden environment."

According to Blue & Cream owner, Jeffrey Goldstein, "Blue & Cream tends to be a place where people come and hang around for a while. Our new garden is now just another place where our customers can hang-out and be apart of our Blue & Cream culture."

Sticking to the theme, iGreen took it one step further, creating a rain garden that would capture excess rain runoff and allow stormwater to soak into the permeable gravel groundcover as opposed to the storm drains. "Rain gardens can cut down on the amount of pollution reaching creeks and streams by up to 30 percent," stated Eaves. iGreen then introduced organic compost teas that naturally clean out the toxins in the soil and promote better nitrogen and overall soil remediation. iGreen then planted a beautiful cherry tree to the west to create shade for refuge from the afternoon sun. Next, they added some boxwoods and white butterfly shrubs along with other native wildflower perennials that would invite regular visits from birds, bees and butterflies. To top off the garden, Eaves, an avid surfer, spotted and rescued the perfect piece of driftwood from the beach that he then fabricated into several recycled Zen garden benches for the new garden.

Rear of Blue & Cream iGreen eco-friendly garden.

Other recycled materials that iGreen utilized were marble chips (a waste material from marble fabrication) used as gravel groundcover for the entire garden. Curtis also used white gravel chips to "paint" the illusion of a dry river bed that flows down into the garden. For a meditative calming effect, iGreen built a central self-sustaining stone fountain that recycles the overflowing water back up from beneath the ground.

iGreen serves the Hamptons by designing and adhering to sustainable and organic techniques to create and maintain beautiful environmentally sound gardens and landscapes. iGreen's design philosophy is built on sustainability and eco-friendly "green" principles. iGreen also specializes in the creation of eco-friendly native grass and perennial wildflower gardens that create shelter for birds, bees, and butterflies.

Since opening its first retail door in spring 2004, B&C has built a devoted customer base and garnered media attention for its unique product mix, shopping experience, and celebrity clientele. B&C is the brainchild of entertainment marketer Jeffrey Goldstein who defined the B&C lifestyle by appealing to the Hampton's highly competitive luxury retail market. Now expanded to three retail stores, the B&C Company has launched private label design of exclusive B&C tee-shirts, sweats, skateboards, and footwear.