Kevin: Today on a special episode of "Ask This Old House," we celebrate the life of landscaper Roger Cook.

Roger: The right way to prune a tree is called the three-cut method, and it's a simple... Tom: I think people gravitated to Roger because they trusted his knowledge.

Richard: He's a model for all of us.

Jenn: He was the god of -- of landscape to this country, and he was right there in front of me.

Roger: One question I get all the time is how to grow grass in shady conditions.

Kevin: We'll share our favorite memories of Roger, as well as some heartfelt messages we received from viewers across the country.

Together we'll remember Roger for who he was and will always be -- our dear friend.

♪♪ Kevin: In 1988, Roger Cook made his first appearance on "This Old House."

Bob: Roger, what's this large guy here?

Roger: This is a Cornus kousa.

This is a Japanese dogwood, Bob.

Perfect.

See what I mean?

Kevin: For over 30 years, Roger's passion for plants and landscaping inspired millions of viewers to reimagine the beauty that was just outside their homes.

Richard: We're creating habitat for the animals in the area to come in and nest and feed, and they've got the perfect plants for it.

Kevin: Roger recently passed away, so we wanted to take some time to remember and celebrate our friend.

♪♪ How about we start at the beginning, which is first impressions of our friend Roger.

My first one, which was most memorable, was that scene where I was introduced on "Ask," you know, when you guys had that gag of me arriving at the barn.

He was the first one.

Tom: Yeah.

Richard: Yeah.

"You're late."

Kevin: Uh, hey.

Am I in the right place?

Roger: And who are you?

Kevin: Oh, I'm Kevin O'Connor.

Roger: The new guy?

Kevin: Yeah.

Roger: You're late.

[ Laughter ] Richard: Nobody played the ogre better than him.

He was a teddy bear, but he was -- he played the ogre.

Kevin: And even when he was delivering it to me, which he pulled off, I was like, "Hm, I think he's kidding.

I think that guy's kidding."

Jenn, your first impressions of the big man?

Roger: We have plenty of room to put in a... Jenn: I was very intimidated by him because he was Roger Cook.

He was the god of landscape to this country, and he was right there in front of me.

Roger: She's gonna help us with projects, and we have one we're already working on.

Kevin: Oh?

What's that?

What are you guys thinking about doing?

Roger: We're actually gonna do a vegetable bed for a third-grade class.

Jenn: Making the plans right now.

Roger took me under his wings on the show because I just was like, "How do you do this?

How do you teach with a camera in your face and all this activity and commotion going on?"

And he just was like... "Just do what you do when you're implementing a project on your own."

I was like, "Okay," and then he said, "And one tip -- it's always easier to do with a shovel in your hand."

Roger: While the bed's wide open, I want to dig out about 4 inches of material... Jenn: It's so true.

Having a tool in your hand, it just makes you feel like, okay, this feels more normal.

Once we've done that, we'll be ready for the weed barrier.

We grew to be good buddies and, um...

I'll forever thank you, Roger, for letting me in.

♪♪ Richard: He was the quiet sort of sergeant, you know, that made everything happen.

He just wanted to do the work, and he stayed late to do it.

And he worked hard, and he worked like crazy.

To prep for the thing that was gonna be a 2-minute scene the next day, he did 10 hours the day before.

Tom: He took command.

Richard: Yeah.

Tom: You know?

Richard: Absolutely.

Kevin: Your first impression, Tommy?

I mean, that goes way back.

Tom: A gentle giant, you know?

Somebody that -- No frills.

Just, you know, "Let's get going.

What do you want?

Let's get it done."

Roger: If you don't do the right work in the preparation, the next year, your patio will start moving all over the place.

Kevin: Okay.

Tom: He didn't want to do anything that wasn't right.

Richard: Yeah.

Tom: But you know what?

I'm no landscaper.

But I actually know a guy that can help you out.

Roger: Take a look at these flowers.

This is what we're gonna fill your window boxes with today.

Tom: I think people gravitated to Roger because they trusted his knowledge.

Roger: The other thing I'm gonna do is look at the face of the plant.

So I want to put the best side, or the face, out to where we're gonna see all those flowers.

Tom: His explanations of how to do things was simple but concise.

Roger: What we're gonna do is punch a bunch of holes in this outside to let sunlight in.

Tom: He had a way of saying, "Well, you know, don't do it that way.

This is why."

Told you why.

Roger: This is the reason you don't use wire to tie the branches up.

That's so tight around this branch that it's girdling it.

You can see how it's swollen on this side.

Tom: And then he showed you how.

Roger: Let me show you the right thing to use on the trees, and that's this plastic half-inch locking tree tie.

If you're looking for a visible edging, nothing beats a cobblestone or a brick.

Richard: He'd be gruff, but he's the teddy bear.

Roger: Now, I have a general rule of thumb.

Any branch I'm gonna hit my head on when I'm mowing the lawn gets cut off the tree.

How's that?

Man: Okay.

Makes sense.

Kevin: Just a super regular guy.

And you could tell within the first minute of watching him he had a big heart.

♪♪ He was a teacher in this field, not just to the audience, certainly to me.

Tom: He was very smart.

And it's funny because, you know, I see a plant, I have trouble with the English name of it, but he knew the Latin name for it.

Richard: And this is before Google.

Because he'd say stuff -- "maxiotis markidosis" -- Tom: Yeah.

Richard: "Is he real?"

Yeah.

And he was.

Roger: Over here we have Hydrangea macrophylla lace cap.

This is microbiota, also called Siberian carpet.

Clethra alnifolia hummingbird.

We have two osteospermum.

Ampelopsis pedunculata.

And here are Phalaenopsis orchid.

Jenn: He was a walking encyclopedia with plants, and that was one of my favorite things to do with him.

We talked Latin names.

Because that's how I was trained at the nursery, and that's how horticultural people speak to each other, in Latin names.

Roger: This is called anemone, or windflower.

We have a plant that the butterflies love -- Buddleia.

This could be covered with butterflies at some point this summer.

Pica: Roger's legacy is he's the man.

He's the landscape god.

He's the one that, if you had a question, you wanted to talk to Roger about it.

Kevin: Roger never stopped learning.

He was tracking soil temperatures and sending stuff off to the labs at the ag schools.

He was talking about new cultivars.

And he was able to articulate, you know, what was going on in the citrus-fruit world.

Roger: The second thing you look for is crimped leaves, and that's a sign where the psyllid was feeding.

And when it's feeding it transmits the disease to the tree.

Now, the main purpose of a rain garden is to filter the water.

And one great thing that helps with this is native wetlands plants.

Now, if you look... Richard: I saw something in him.

Whenever he got a chance to do something with a young person, he just became the perfect teacher to the kids.

Roger: You like sandboxes?

Kids: Yeah!

Roger: Well, that's what we're gonna make today.

We're gonna take this area right in front of us, we're gonna dig it out, and we're gonna line it in a wood called cedar.

Jenn: Because he would lighten up.

And he was this huge, massive guy coming into a classroom.

And the kids are like, "Oh, my gosh!"

Roger: Well, I'm here because you all are growing stuff.

Look at you.

You all got seedlings on your desks.

What are you growing, Malacca?

Malacca: Sweet peppers.

Roger: Sweet peppers.

That's great.

Jenn: He just had this electric vibe with everybody.

Tom: He had a soft touch.

[ Whirring ] Roger: Way to go, buddy.

Good job.

Let's do the lettuce.

So we're gonna put down a restoration grass seed mix.

In fact, there's a grass in there called tickle grass.

I want all you guys to make holes, and I want them about two knuckles deep, about an inch and a half, 'cause we're gonna plant beans.

Great.

Long soak.

That's better.

Boy: Oh.

Okay.

Roger: Alright?

Boy: Mm-hmm.

Roger: We'll do each of them and then come back and do them again.

You do it now.

You got it?

♪♪ Richard: He spent more time on his knees than anybody I know.

Roger: Now I'm gonna put a little starter fertilizer on there.

Richard: Like, he just wasn't afraid to just get dirty.

Every pair of jeans always had the rip and/or the stain.

Jenn: Yeah.

Roger: Cut that one out.

We've been able to give Paul and the boys a real yard to play in.

Kevin: You know, I want to talk about the yard, but can we talk about you for a second?

You look like you lost a fight with a mud puddle!

Roger: I did this morning.

I did.

Jason: Just the memories of him coming home from a work day just completely exhausted, completely filthy.

And we used to give him a hard time because he -- You know, he'd get into his chair after work, and it'd take him about 10 seconds to get to sleep.

You know, in hindsight, he worked so hard to create opportunities for our family.

Kevin: Man versus stump.

Who won?

Roger: Stump.

[ Laughter ] Richard: Roger's work ethic was honest and straightforward.

He had a task, and he did it.

Happily, mostly.

Kevin: Alright, well, it looks like you beat the stump after all.

Roger: It feels like the stump beat me, to be honest!

Kevin: And he got his crew to work that hard, too.

I mean, you guys run your own businesses.

You all have people working for you.

How did he get his crew to work that hard that long?

Tom: Because they see his work ethic.

Richard: They see it.

Yeah.

Jenn: Respect.

Roger: Ready?

One.

Two.

Three.

There we go!

Okay.

Keep going.

Once more.

Fred: Roger was my neighbor growing up.

...when I was 14.

He'd pick me up and drive me to work.

Roger: When I hire people, I try to hire nice people.

I can train them to do what I want, but they have to be nice, so when you get a crew of nice guys working together, you get a lot done.

Fred: I'd have about 30 seconds to get in the truck.

If I wasn't there, he would take off without me, which he has a couple times.

And then when we'd get -- he'd make me buy him coffee.

That was my payment to get to work.

I don't know how much money I spent in coffee, but it was worth it.

Roger: Tom, I'll take this end.

You get the front.

Pica: Roger was a very strong guy.

I mean, there was two of us trying to struggle to get this tree off a truck, and, uh, he just bear-hugged it, took it off the truck, and was like, "This is how it's done."

Roger: There you go.

Pica: So it was kind of learn by example.

You know?

Roger was great about that.

Roger: Tom, we need to go a little to you!

Pica: He would show you how to do something, and he really wanted you to pick up on it, but he would guide you through how to do stuff and make sure you're doing it right.

Roger: One of the most important things is getting all the mortar off the stone, and you got to do that as you go.

You don't want it to dry on there.

Then it's really hard to get off.

Fred: He used to say, "It's not worth doing unless you do it right."

Roger: We used a turf-type fescue, and this will survive in partial shade.

It's a good choice for the backyard.

Kevin: No context.

Just a post.

[ Laughter ] Richard: Great.

Kevin: They loved his accent!

Richard: Any tips to the right consistency?

Roger: You don't want it like soup.

If you try to lay a cobble on soup, it's just gonna sink.

You want it thick like... peanut butta.

Richard: His accent got thicker every year.

Richard: We've got a real problem over in this corna.

All the watah's coming off the roof, settling in that low spot, going down the foundation, finding a weak spot and going in the cellah.

Richard: Remember he even made fun of himself.

Like, he did, "The tawp."

Roger: Right on the tawp.

It'll make for an easy cleanup.

Woman: Okay.

Just pour it over here?

Roger: Oh!

On the tawp!

Woman: Oh.

The tarp!

Roger: Yeah.

What did you think I said?

Woman: [ Laughs ] The "top."

Roger: The top?

No, the tawp!

Jenn: I'm still fascinated by the accent.

Roger: To do that, we're gonna drive this half-inch by 4-foot-long piece of rebah right through the timba.

Richard: He would tell you he didn't really have an accent.

Tom: No.

Everybody else did.

Richard: Yeah.

Roger: One of the things I love about the Essex job site is it's big and it's wild and it's rambling, sort of a little like me, but we've made some... Jason: Dad always said that he was a landscaper first and not a TV person... and not a TV person trying to be a landscaper.

Roger: There are some species of grass that will tolerate partial shade, but no matter what you do, what a lawn really wants is a lot of sun and a lot of water to thrive.

You know, to be honest, when the "This Old House" opportunity first presented itself, it was not something that he was, you know, super thrilled about.

But I think he recognized that, you know, it was a fantastic opportunity both for the industry and for our family to participate in it.

Pica: He didn't really talk much about being on TV.

Like I said, it was a job.

We went in, and he wanted to go in and teach people how to do things.

Roger: I always say put the right plant in the right place.

Sometimes you just have to admit that grass isn't the right plant.

Fred: What you saw on camera was really Roger.

There was nothing fake about Roger.

♪♪ Jenn: Roger loved plants, nature.

I mean, he had a degree in wildlife.

Roger: We have water.

We have wildlife, turtles, fish.

This is like my ultimate backyard, Kevin.

Kevin: Perfect, right?

Pica: It wasn't just trees and plants that he enjoyed to -- I mean, we'd be driving, and he'd -- He'd call us on the old radios that we used to -- "Hey, there's a turtle in the road!

Don't run over that turtle!

Watch out for that frog!"

You know?

He really enjoyed nature and everything about it.

Roger: It's a great wildlife habitat area.

You have birds, snakes, and turtles in here.

But when you're building a house next to a wetlands, you have certain responsibilities.

Pica: And he loved being on the water fishing.

Kevin: So what is it about fishing, Roger, that you love so much?

Roger: It's everything, Kevin, about being outside.

You have the ocean, you have people, you have boats, you have fish.

It's just a tremendous place to spend a day.

Jason: Honestly, you know, aside from his family, I'm not sure that anything else took precedence over fishing.

Um, every weekend in the summer was carved out for fishing for Dad.

Um, as long as there wasn't gale-force winds, we were going out on the boat.

Roger: It is the Mass bass Kastmaster.

Richard: Mash Bash Cash Master?

Roger: You guys know I love to fish, right?

Jason: He was very strategic about making sure he got his fishing in, yeah.

Richard: He loved going out early in his little boat in Woods Hole and just go fishing, you know, and come back two or three hours later.

Tom: Yeah, take the fish and fry them up in the grill right next to all the landscaping that you just finished.

That's Roger.

♪♪ Kevin: Let's get to it.

How many trees and plants do you think he planted?

Guesses?

Jenn: Hundreds of thousands.

Roger: So you need to understand how tall a tree gets when it's mature, how wide it gets, and how much sun it needs.

Fred: They're all over the place.

We've done so many jobs and so much work.

♪♪ Roger: Nice and easy.

Beautiful.

Fred: Wherever I drive, all day, every day, I'm always passing something that Roger left his fingerprints on.

Pica: And I look at those trees now, and I'm like, "I planted those trees with Roger."

Roger: So we're ready to dig some holes and put them in the ground.

Woman: Great.

Roger: Now, see these roots?

Woman: Yes.

Roger: It's all pot-bound, so we're gonna take a claw.

We're just gonna go in and loosen it all up.

Kevin: I counted yesterday.

17 on my property alone.

Various times, he came out there, you know?

And I looked at those three over there.

I was like, "Oh, yeah.

Roger put those in."

And they were -- [Clicks tongue] He moved about 12 blueberry bushes because he's like, "What are those doing over there?"

And before I got home, they were already over there.

Roger: We'll roll it in the hole.

Woman: Okay.

♪♪ Roger: Alright.

A Japanese umbrella-pine.

Beautiful, beautiful tree.

Kevin: When you've got a master craftsman.

when you've got a Picasso in your midst, like, who doesn't want to paint better?

Who doesn't want to lean in and be like, "What's the secret there?"

Roger: It's a great thing about prepping the whole bed, is it makes it so easy to plant these and just set it in the hole at the right height... and then just backfill with that good soil all around it.

Tom: Roger loved doing what he loved to do, and he took a lot of pride and care in doing it right.

Woman: You can see all the tulips and all those flowering beds in the summer.

Thank you so much, Roger.

Woman: I cannot believe this was my little dirt patch a couple of hours ago!

Woman: Roger, this is beautiful.

I want to thank you.

I love it.

Man: Roger, you're a godsend.

I appreciate your expertise and your help.

Man: Thank you so much.

Roger: You're welcome.

Man: Appreciate your help.

Roger: I had a great time.

Man: Oh, it was awesome.

Richard: When our life is over, if people say, "Wow, thank you, you helped me so much, that's a life well-lived.

♪♪ Kevin: You know, I think Roger's legacy is completely entwined with the legacy of "This Old House."

Because, you know, he is "This Old House."

Man: Tree looks great.

Man #2: I've been ribbing Roger that in order to get it in, he had to rip up most of the lawn.

Roger: You know me.

Got to have a lot of destruction before we have any construction.

Tom: There'll never be another Roger.

No.

Richard: Well, he was so -- so much an original that I hope that he has the same effect that Julia Child does, in a funny way, as being the original in the cooking world.

Roger: Well, we've extended the season in the last few years, and we're able to plant right up until the ground's solid.

Kevin: Really?

Jason: It's just amazing, you know, how many people he touched.

And for so long, he was just Dad to me, and now I have a new perspective of, you know, Roger from "This Old House" and what that meant for so many people, so... Roger: Later on in the show, Jen's gonna show homeowners, whether they're in an apartment... Jenn: I asked his permission because I said, "I can't take this position without you saying it's okay."

Um, he said, "Carry on the passion."

And, um... And I said, "Okay.

I'm not gonna let you down."

Kevin: Two big lessons that Roger taught me were... it's okay to be a gentleman.

And he taught me to appreciate that what we do is a gift.

You know, that we're just extremely fortunate to be part of such an iconic and trusted organization, um, and to have the ability for them to share their craft and for me to help them with that, with a really appreciative audience.

Roger: Now, there's a couple of rules that go along with that first cut.

The first is the one-third rule.

Pica: Roger taught me a lot about life.

And to tell you the truth, I don't even know where I'd be without Roger right now.

I don't even want to think about it.

Kevin: The last time I saw Roger, a week or two before he passed away, he was at his house in hospice.

And there's not much to do at that point other than just go and sit and hold his hand.

As I was walking in... who was walking out?

Fred and Tom.

♪♪ The young kids who Roger mentored, you know, who Roger drove to work, at the end were the ones who were driving Roger to work.

♪♪ And, uh... that's the full circle of mentorship, and that's, you know, a great tribute to him, the people he surrounded himself by.

Pica: We want to just keep the company going the same way Roger ran it.

We're trying to -- Again, it's taking two of us to do what Roger did himself.

And hopefully we can do him proud and just keep going the way that he taught us to keep his legacy and keep the company going.

Fred: Hopefully his grandchildren will come work for us in the summers.

That was the idea.

Pica: Yeah.

Fred: "I want my grandchildren to come work for you guys in the summer," just like his kids did.

Kevin: I could read you 30 of these that I got, but they were all basically the same thing as this one.

"I'm gonna plant three trees in Roger's name this weekend... ...and teach my three children how to grow and care for them."

Tom: Hm.

Kevin: He's gonna teach his kids... Tom: Hm.

Kevin: ...how to do it right, based on Roger.

Thank you.

Roger.

Tom: "Thank you" is right.

Richard: Let's plant a tree.

Kevin: Roger planted this tree over 20 years ago.

It's a magnolia, and in a few weeks, it is gonna be in full bloom.

And we thought it would be fitting to plant another tree in his honor here at the barn.

Right!

There they are!

Hey, guys.

Jenn: Hey, Kevin.

Kevin: Jenn, what did we pick?

Jenn: So we picked a Parrotia persica.

It's a Persian ironwood.

Kevin: Okay.

Jenn: It's gonna do very, very well in full sun.

Kevin: Alright.

Well, what do you say we get it in the ground?

Jenn: Let's do it!

♪♪ Roger: When I plant a tree, I always take into consideration where the tree likes to grow, whether it likes sun or shade, and how big it's ultimately gonna get.

I want the receiving hole to be twice the diameter of the root ball.

We're gonna measure the tree, and it's gonna tell us how deep it wants to be.

Tom: 14 inches.

How'd you do?

Roger: Ooh, right on the money.

Tom: Look at that!

Kevin: I like it!

Roger: We have a saying.

Plant them high, they won't die.

Plant them low, they won't grow.

Man: Perfect.

Roger: Every tree has a face, and that's the best side.

We want to get that towards the house.

♪♪ Now we've got to cut the burlap off the ball.

[ Chatter ] What we want to find is where the trunk comes down and the roots start to flare off.

♪♪ I'm also going to add Superphosphate to help the roots grow and some starter fertilizer.

Then, once it's all mixed together, you can backfill around the tree.

♪♪ It's a bit of work, but it's gonna grow up to be a beautiful specimen tree.

Fred: Thank you, Roger.

Jenn: Thank you, Roger.

Pica: We love you, Roger.

Kevin: Thank you, Roger.

Kevin: Next time on "Ask This Old House"... Tommy shows you how to build mudroom cubbies... Tom: There'll be three individual sections with openings on the bottom for two baskets and two baskets at the top.

♪♪ Kevin: Then, Mauro gives a few tips on painting the cubbies.

Mauro: At the front, you have the nozzle that you can flip it, and you can go vertical or horizontal.

Kevin: All that on "Ask This Old House."