On Saturday, September 27, I’ll be walking in memory of my beautiful mom, Sonja Behnke Festerling, as part of the Walk to End Alzheimer’s at Centennial Park in Ellicott City. If you’re local and want to join Team Sonja, I’d…
One of my mom’s, Sonja Behnke Festerling favorite things to do after retiring from Behnke’s was ringing the Salvation Army bell at Behnke Nurseries. As a member of the Beltsville Rotary Club, which organized bell-ringing shifts from Thanksgiving through Christmas…
The other day, I was trying to explain Behnke’s Oktoberfest in the ’80s and early ’90s to someone. If you were there, you know how special this event was to everyone who came out to Behnke’s in Beltsville year after…
Some of you might be wondering if these violets could be mine. Last year, I wrote about my attempt at rooting some leaves off my mother’s (Sonja Behnke Festerling) old Chanticleer African Violet. These 3 in the photo are not…
Another first. Wishing Sonja Behnke Festerling a special heavenly 90th birthday
Sonja Behnke And Wildflowers Here is the thing, my mother, Sonja Behnke Festerling, loved wildflowers. Mom could make a handful of wildflowers turn into a beautiful bouquet. So even now, as I am planning her Celebration of Life BIG BASH…
Sonja Behnke Festerling lost her long battle with Alzheimer’s disease at age 89 on the morning of December 9, 2022.
Sonja Behnke Festerling’s African Violets are over 45 years old and still growing strong!
Stephanie’s mother, Sonja Behnke Festerling, loves to talk about the old days growing up with her brothers on the land that is Behnke Nurseries. Some of the funniest memories are about ‘wash day.’ Click through to read all about it.
My Mother kept a garden, a garden of the heart, She planted all the good things that gave my life its start.
Today my mother, Sonja Behnke Festerling, and I took some time to look through a few of the thousands of photos my grandmother, Rose Behnke, took and we came across this one! We both started laughing since this was a sight that I remember well and so did she.
