Frank Rossi, a Cornell University turf expert, shared lawn care advice with Martha Stewart during an episode of “Martha’s Garden.” Rossi emphasized soil quality and encouraged reducing soil disturbance and inputs on Stewart’s farm’s lawns. Rossi believes his messages about sustainable lawn management can benefit grass field managers as well, promoting targeted aeration and minimal soil disruption. Despite his brief appearance on the show, Rossi considers it a significant milestone in his career, recognizing the widespread exposure it brought to his expertise.Frank Rossi, a Cornell University turf expert, shared lawn care advice with Martha Stewart during an episode of “Martha’s Garden.” Rossi emphasized soil quality and encouraged reducing soil disturbance and inputs on Stewart’s farm’s lawns. Rossi believes his messages about sustainable lawn management can benefit grass field managers as well, promoting targeted aeration and minimal soil disruption. Despite his brief appearance on the show, Rossi considers it a significant milestone in his career, recognizing the widespread exposure it brought to his expertise.
Frank Rossi, a turf expert at Cornell University, discussed lawn care with Martha Stewart on an episode of “Martha’s Garden.” Photo courtesy of Frank Rossi
How long does it take to earn your own 15 minutes of fame?
According to Frank Rossi, Ph.D., it depends on how you look at it.
The academic with years of experience at Cornell University was given the opportunity this spring to make her expertise available to a very big name: Martha Stewart.
Rossi traveled to Stewart’s Bedford, New York, estate in March to provide some turf expertise during the filming of “Martha’s Garden,” which first aired on Roku TV on May 13.
“It ended up being about 18 minutes, but they got the conversation down to six minutes,” Rossi said.
And while Rossi, an associate professor in Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and a turfgrass Extension specialist for New York State, jokes that his time with Stewart earned him his 15 minutes of fame, it wasn’t the first time the renowned turfgrass expert has worked with high-profile clients or been in front of the camera. His background includes appearances on the “Today” show, ESPN and the Golf Channel. He’s provided turf expertise for New York’s Central Park, the New York Yankees and the U.S. Open Championships. In fact, the hundreds of hours of video on the Cornell School of Integrative Plant Science YouTube channel — including the “Cornell Turfgrass Show,” which Rossi has co-hosted with Cornell Extension Support Specialist Carl Schimenti since 2020 — helped Stewart’s producers see that Rossi clearly knows how to connect with an audience.
And as a skilled communicator, Rossi was able to convey some important messages to viewers.
“I will say this, I really liked how they ultimately put the piece together. You never know if what you’re trying to accomplish is going to work,” said Rossi, who emphasized soil quality and urged Stewart to consider reducing the amount of soil disturbance and inputs on her farm’s lawns, which are primarily Kentucky bluegrass.
“What you see in the piece that I think is most important is that she and I are doing the exchange about the soil, which she says was a pasture, a farm field before it became this lawn,” Rossi says. “When you have really old soil that’s been grassed for a long time, it doesn’t require a lot of maintenance. In fact, if she were to reduce some of her fertilizer use, she probably wouldn’t have to do some of those additional practices because she doesn’t get a lot of traffic on that lawn.”
Rossi says the property’s lawn was likely mowed to 3 or 3½ inches and was dormant when he visited in March. “You can tell it’s a vigorous lawn that gets a lot of input,” says Rossi, who said he could point out that the grass doesn’t really need to be dethatched or aerated as long as it doesn’t get a lot of traffic. Instead, those practices can be reserved for high-traffic areas that are likely to become compacted.
“I was able to promote a more precise, modern approach to lawn management that is perhaps more sustainable than feeling like you have to constantly apply products or a fossil fuel-heavy process like aerating or dethatching that ultimately isn’t necessary,” said Rossi, who was honored with the GCSAA’s President’s Award for Environmental Stewardship in 2018.
Rossi hopes that this message will resonate with grass field managers, such as field wardens. He points out that it is better to aerate in a targeted manner and to try to disturb the soil as little as possible.
“This is a very progressive thought in the golf turf community right now, where more guys are thinking about less and less disruption to our playing surfaces and giving them the ability, where appropriate, to choose to implement practices more on a site-specific basis rather than uniformly across 45 acres of fairway,” he says. “It’s the same idea with turf: Why do it if you don’t have to?”
Was Rossi happy with the experience?
“I have my 15 minutes. Right? That’s about it,” he says. “You work your whole career — I got my Ph.D. in 1990 — I’ve been doing this for 34 years, and it took Martha Stewart that long to find me. And I have to tell you, I’ve never had this much exposure, especially from women and men who idolize Martha Stewart. A lot of people like her. She’s a hugely popular figure. I have a lot of admiration for her.”
Darrell J. Pehr is GCM’s science editor.
