German for day-in-which-the-danger-of-frost-is-gone.

May 23, 2009 10:40 AM

My wife heard a German word for the last frost date, but she can't remember it. Are there any German-speaking gardeners who can tell us? It was a pretty long word with multiple syllables.
posted by RussHy to home & garden (5 comments total)

Could it be Frühlingsbeginn?
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:47 AM on May 23

Die Eisheiligen?
posted by dhoe at 11:03 AM on May 23 [1 favorite]

There are the last five days in spring after which according to weather proverbs no more frost will happen; they are named after the five saints associated with those days (Mamertus, Pankratius, Servatius, Bonifatius and "die kalte" Sophie) and are together known as "die Eisheiligen" (lit. "the ice-saints") (google translation of wikipedia article).
posted by PontifexPrimus at 11:04 AM on May 23

A quick consultation with my nearest native-German-speaker/gardener yields another vote for die Eisheiligen.
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks at 11:22 AM on May 23

Also in Dutch: "IJsheiligen" (sic: "IJ" is considered to be a single letter).
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:18 AM on May 24