Before I get into discussing baumschule, I have to point readers to Ben Schott’s adorable little book Schottenfreude, in which he makes up German words to describe special situations he thinks there should be a word for, like “Zwillingsmoral – Reading horoscopes you don’t believe in.” Since German lets you build nouns of incredible length, it’s perfect for that application.
Baumschule is not very long, but it’s very sweet. It means the equivalent of “tree nursery” in English, but it transliterates as “tree school.” I love the image of little saplings all lined up in orderly rows learning how to be good trees. (I realize “nursery” might have once had a similar connotation, but in the U.S. now it basically just means a place to put babies.)
The Rookery 