When Terre d’Oc stopped making its Japanese Garden Citrus and Citronella Garden Incense I was very upset. Terre d’Oc’s long-burning, 19-inch bâtons d'encens were perfect for outdoor parties. They produced a gentle citrus fragrance that didn’t interfere with the tastes of food and drink. I put the incense sticks directly into the ground in dark or shaded areas of the garden where their lazy silver smoke was easily seen. I often placed a burning incense stick under my umbrella-shaped Harlequin Glorybower tree next to a Chinese Buddha statue; hours would pass, the yard would smell great and Buddha would look as if he were sitting on a silver-blue cloud. In very un-Buddha-like fashion, I cursed Terre d’Oc for discontinuing their garden incense line.

Thankfully, I’ve found a replacement for the defunct Terre d’Oc garden incense: Ashleigh & Burwood’s Garden Incense sticks; these sticks are also huge (22 inches long) and meant for outdoor use.

Ashleigh & Burwood Garden Incense smells of powdery citrus (citronella) with an herbal “kick” of rosemary and thyme. Each incense stick burns for 2-3 hours (on a windless day the incense will burn longer) and scents a large area. I like to place one of the burning incense sticks under my second-story deck so the pleasant aroma will waft up and into the house.

I can’t say how good the Ashleigh & Burwood Garden Incense sticks are at their bug-repellent duties because bats gobble up most flying bugs at my home and mosquitoes are not abundant in Seattle.

Ashleigh & Burwood’s garden range of products includes small and giant incense sticks, giant incense cones, candles in tins, a diffuser, torch and patio candles. The giant incense sticks are extremely popular and sell out often. (Terre d’Oc -- what a mistake you made in discontinuing your garden incense!)

Ashleigh & Burwood Garden Incense comes in tubes of 12 giant incense sticks, approx. $13 per tube. These incense sticks are available in the U.S. at candledlites or in the U.K. at ashleigh-burwood.co.uk, simplyincense.co.uk, amazon.co.uk, purplesunrise.