The Story Behind 109

A scent born from memory, where cedar closets, garden roses, fresh baked cookies and vine-ripened tomatoes come together in a fragrance that means home.

Some scents are designed. Others are remembered.

109 is both.

It’s the first fragrance I created for Leland Francis, and it’s deeply personal. It’s inspired by my grandmother, Wanda McRee, and the home she built along the plains of Western Oklahoma. Her address was Rural Route 1, Box 109, a small mailbox that held big memories. That’s where the name comes from.

Her home always smelled like something familiar and comforting, garden-fresh roses, tomatoes picked straight from the vine, and cedarwood closets that seemed to hold every season at once.

I can still picture the chipped rose-shaped soaps in the bathroom, the worn wood paneling, and the early summer breeze blowing through open windows, carrying the scent of tomato leaves and earth. These aren’t just memories, they’re the scent notes behind 109.

The notes:
Petitgrain. Cypress. Palmarosa. Garden Rose. Tomato. Vanilla. Cedarwood.
Together, they tell a story of warmth, resilience, freshness, and place.

109 isn’t trendy or loud. It’s grounded, nostalgic, and made to be worn close, just like a memory.

Thank you for letting me share this piece of my story, and Wanda’s, with you. If you’ve worn 109, I’d love to hear how it makes you feel.

— Dillon

Wanda Towns McRee and the farm at RR 1 Box 109