Port Orford (Siskiyou) Cedar

Also called "Ginger Cedar" for its highly unusual spicy odor, Port Orford Cedar is found only in the tangled remote coastal mountains of northern California and southern Oregon. Its soothing odor is extremely evocative and was said to have strongly affected 19th century seamen who sailed schooners made from the fresh wood - "the odor grew and grew on them until they were almost mad with it" (Donald Peattie). I hope it doesn't drive you mad! This is the real smell of Port Orford Cedar and the gorgeous, rugged country in which it grows.

Throughout the mountain ranges of the West, cold-hardy trees such as Grand, Noble and White Fir dominate the higher alpine country, where the extremes in temperature and weather discourage all but the most determined of plants. If this evergreeny, balsamic scent seems familiar, it’s probably because these same Firs have long been popular as Christmas trees. So whether you enjoy this sachet because it smells like the holidays or because it reminds you of hiking in the Cascades, savor this gift from the wild!

No tree is more deeply identified with the dense rain forests of the Pacific Northwest than Douglas Fir. Second in size only to the two California species of Sequoia, Douglas Fir forms pure stands over huge portions of the Pacific Northwest and almost single-handedly fueled the timber industry’s mad frenzy over the past century. This is the real smell of the rain forests of the Northwest—so close your eyes and imagine yourself in the deep canyons of the Columbia River Gorge or the steep, glaciated mountains of the Olympic Peninsula.

This sachet is made with 100% wild-harvested Sage from the Big Sur and Central Coast region of California. So many people have sung their love songs to this area, what more is there to say? With five-thousand-foot mounatins that drop off into the sea, spectacularly rugged coastline, black sand beaches and misty, dripping redwood canyons, this is one of the world's great coastal wildernesses. Wild Sages blanket the hillsides around Big Sur, which is why this sachet is such an enjoyable reminder of this magical place.

If you’ve ever been to the Grand Canyon and nudged perilously close to the edge of a thousand-foot drop-off and wondered what that insane tree clinging to the side of the cliff was, it probably was Juniper. Juniper covers vast portions of the Southwest and seems happily at home clinging to small ledges on sheer Navajo sandstone cliffs or peeking up between boulders on precipitous slopes. This scent, more than any other, is the defining scent of the high and dry country of the Southwest.