At the Free State NBG, the planning and development of a grassland display featuring the nine main veld types of the Free State is under way. Also in the planning stages is a Look, Listen, Feel, Smell Garden aimed at children, similar to the one recently developed in the Natal NBG. Other improvements to the Garden included the re-landscaping of the shade plant displays and repairs to the greenhouse.

A number of music concerts organized by the Botanical Society were held in the Garden throughout the year. The Garden also hosted an Easter party for terminally ill children organized by the Reach for a Dream Foundation and sponsored by Pick 'n Pay and the Department of Health.

Garden staff were successful in propagating the very rare Aloe polyphylla from seed supplied by the Katse Botanical Garden of Lesotho and are currently studying the soil and moisture requirements of this notoriously difficult species.

The Free State NBG was invited to create an exhibit of medicinal plants of the Free State at the Provincial Indigenous Food Fair that was attended by the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Dr Ben Ngubane.

The Curator of the Free State NBG attended the Gardens 2001 Congress in Canberra, Australia, and gave presentations on the Free State NBG at a number of Australian botanical gardens.