Monday, May 25, 2026

The Colorado Governor's Residence at Boettcher Mansion


After attending the Rotary Club of Denver Metro South's meeting in April for "Operation Pollination" -- last week's blog post on this link--we were able to take a tour of the Colorado Governor's Residence at Boettcher Mansion in Denver, Colorado.

Designed and built for the Cheeseman family in 1908, and later purchased by the Boettcher family, this mansion was deeded to the state in 1959. The Georgian Revival residence became the Governor's Mansion in 1960.

More about the home's history can be read on this link.



This was not the first time I visited the Governor's Residence. Twice before, my husband and I visited during open houses when the residence was professionally decorated for the Christmas season. You can see those posts here and here.



On this visit, I was looking forward to seeing the home without decorations and with fewer visitors. There were multiple docent tour guides from History Colorado to break up our group into smaller groups to take us on a guided tour.


The entrance door and hall.


The three-story staircase leads to the private quarters. The upstairs portion is 7,000 square feet with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms.

The present Governor of Colorado is Jared Polis, and he and his partner do not live in the residence, as they decided to remain in their home in Boulder, Colorado, because their young children attend school there.


The Library

The library shelves contain the complete works of Thomas Jefferson, a signed copy of A King’s Story: The Memoirs of the Duke of Windsor, and several first editions.


The Library features a rare French Louis XIV-style tulip wood cylinder desk.


The Library carpet depicts Colorado wildflowers, and window shelves looking into the Palm Room display Boettcher era collectibles.




The Drawing Room



 The Waterford cut crystal chandelier, which graces the Governor’s Residence drawing room, hung in the White House ballroom in 1876, when President Grant presided over America’s centennial celebration—the same year Colorado became a state.


More views of the Drawing Room.

After its completion in 1908, the first big event held inside this room was the wedding of John Evans II and Gladys Cheesman, the daughter of Walter and Alice Cheesman. Our Docent told us that the childhood sweethearts wed in front of the fireplace, with Gladys walking down the staircase to meet her groom instead of walking down an aisle.



The Drawing Room features a 1914 Steinway grand piano played by notables such as Liberace and John Denver.


Claude Boettcher and his wife Edna expanded the residence with the addition of the glass and marble Palm Room and furnished the home with the art and treasures they found on their travels throughout Europe and Asia. The room looks out to the SouthTerrace Garden.

On our visit, a portion of the room was filled with a table and chairs set up for a meeting.

The Dining Rooms and Kitchen


Colorado State China on display. The smallest dish had an imprint of the Rocky Mountain Columbine, our state flower.


The Bar Room

The last room we visited was the Bar Room, as our tour of the first floor of the mansion came to an end.
Mr. Boettcher's model ship, the “Cutty Sark,” is on display on the bar.


One wall had portraits of all the past and present Colorado Governors.

More views of the Bar Room.

Situated atop Logan Hill, the magnificent Governor’s Residence at the Boettcher Mansion, and its one-acre grounds, has entered its second century of helping to create Colorado history. 
Known as "Colorado's Home," the Residence has played host to national and world heads of state and dignitaries.

It was a pleasure to revisit it, and I hope you also enjoyed my photo tour.

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Sunday, May 17, 2026

Operation Pollination


Wild bee populations in North America have collapsed by up to 96% in two decades, according to the Xerces Society, an international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. Unfortunately, in many places, the essential service of pollination is at risk from habitat loss, pesticide use, and introduced diseases.
 


My husband and I were invited to attend a Denver Metro South Rotary Club meeting held in the conservatory of the Colorado Governor's Residence at Boettcher Mansion in Denver, Colorado, because one of our friends was receiving a citizenship award from the club that day. 
One of the topics discussed that day was the upcoming "Operation Pollination," an Epic Day of Service at Denver Audubon Kingery Nature Center, held this past weekend, where volunteers planted native plants, assisted with garden maintenance, and helped with invasive plant removal. 

You can watch a YouTube video of this event at this link.
 

Amy Yarger, the Senior Director of Horticulture at the Butterfly Pavilion, located at 6252 W. 104th Avenue in Westminster, Colorado, was one of the guest speakers at the Rotary Club event, and spoke about the importance of invertebrates and things we could do to improve, protect, and care for their threatened habitats.


Butterflies I photographed at past visits to the Butterfly Pavilion.

The Butterfly Pavilion is the first stand-alone, Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited non-profit invertebrate zoo in the world and a leader in invertebrate knowledge, inspiration, and connection.
We have visited it many times with our grandchildren--you can see a couple of past blog posts about it at this link.


Yarger told us that pollinators are not just bees--they are anything that helps move pollen from one part of a flower to another. This movement fertilizes a plant, helping make seeds, fruits, and new plants. Some plants can pollinate themselves, and others use wind or water to move their pollen. But many plants need help from insects and animals like bees, butterflies, birds, bats, and even some small mammals.



We learned there are at least five ways to save pollinators by focusing on habitat:

1. Replace one patch of lawn with native plants. Residential yards have enormous potential as pollinator habitat, and converting even a portion of turf grass to native pollinator plantings makes a measurable difference.

2. Plant for the full season, not just summer. Use plants that bloom from early spring into late fall, and plant in clumps rather than single specimens so pollinators can find and use them efficiently. In Colorado, goldenrod and native asters carry pollinators through fall when almost nothing else is blooming, including migrating monarchs.

3. Stop fall cleanup. Seriously. Pollinators overwinter in hollow stems, attached to plants, and in leaf litter. Cutting down perennial gardens in the fall destroys these overwintering sites. Leave stems standing until early April. What looks messy to you is a nursery to them.

4. Leave bare dirt. This one surprises people. More than 75% of native bees are ground-nesters and require patches of unmulched, bare soil. A small, sunny, unplanted corner of your yard, left intentionally bare, is more valuable to native bees than most garden features.

5. Cut pesticides, especially neonicotinoids. Choose plants that have not been treated with pesticides, insecticides, or neonicotinoids. If you must use a pesticide, use the least-toxic option and apply it at night when bees and other pollinators are not active. Many nursery plants, including ones marketed as "bee-friendly," are pre-treated. Ask before you buy.


You can see charts for beneficial pollinator plants to grow in different areas in the US on this link on Xerces. 


One of the speakers at the Operation Pollination event was a woman who lives in my community who has totally replaced her typical suburban "all grass" landscape--see top photo in the collage above--with an amazing flower and vegetable garden--seen in the bottom photo! She was also instrumental in forming a "Makers Market" at our neighborhood community center, where locally grown vegetables and flowers, as well as handcrafted products, could be sold on selected weekends.  It was truly inspirational to see what one person could do!



Finally, this was our friend Stephanie, along with her son, after she received her good citizenship award for her volunteer work in our community. We were happy to be there to congratulate her!




As a bonus, after the Denver Metro South Rotary Club event, we were all invited to take a tour of the Colorado Governor's Residence at Boettcher Mansion. 
I took many photos there -- please come back next week to see that post.


As you can see in the photo above, the snow we received a few weeks ago is still evident on the high Rocky Mountains. We may get some more snowfall tomorrow when another cold front arrives after we had a very warm week. It is never dull weather-wise in Colorado!




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