Missouri Botanical Garden contains three conservatories - the Climatron^® Conservatory, the Shoenberg Arid House and the Linnean House. Five full-time staff and eight volunteers maintain these areas. All three houses require watering, weeding, and pruning the plants. The Climatron and the attached Brookings Annex also involve animal care.

Plants are watered daily by hand with purified, tempered water similar to rain water. Weeding and picking up leaves is a constant task. Pruning is very important as plants reach the ceiling of the Climatron and is also necessary to let light in to the plants on the ground level.

The newly renovated Linnean House has camellias on the north side and plants in containers on the south side. These plants include cacti, succulents, and aroids transported from the behind-the-scenes greenhouses to be on public display during the summer.

Animals cared for in the Climatron and Brookings Annex include fish, birds, frogs, and geckos. Food preparation and behind-the-scenes care take place in the "zoo room". Birds in the Climatron include a blue-grey tanager, silver beaked tanagers, and green-winged doves. Their diet includes grains, bananas, berries, mealworms, peas, corn, peaches, oranges, apples, lettuce and parsley as well as any fruits growing in the Climatron. Plates are distributed through the Climatron on stands. Fish are fed in the huge tank in the Climatron and the smaller tank in Brookings Annex. Poison dart frogs enjoy fruit flies. Geckos are partial to crickets and baby food mixed w/bee pollen and vitamins.