Maintaining the collection by making sure the plants are growing and doing well at the Zoo is very important. Just like the animals are monitored, the plants are too. For the people who monitor the plants, it is a big job. There are ten major teams on grounds. Each has a specific area to monitor and they all work together.
Some examples are the tree crew, irrigation staff, and browse staff.
The browse staff cuts 600 pieces of eucalyptus branches a day for the koalas, so they have their job cut out for them. Volunteers are also welcome to work in the horticulture department if they wish to go into the horticulture field. Because of the weather, the San Diego Zoo's largest collection of plants is the palm. There is a seed bank at the Wild Animal Park that is used to keep and store seeds. The orchids at the Zoo are sometimes donated from the public.