The Pretoria NBG embarked on a number of major new developments after being granted funding from the Poverty Relief Fund of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism for urgently needed tourist and education facilities. The funding of R2.2 million was awarded on the basis that the development of infrastructure at this Garden would not only provide temporary employment for local people, but also provide a measure of long-term employment through envisaged increased tourism. It will also offer additional environmental education opportunities to local learners. Work on the new Visitors' Centre, Education Centre and upgrade of the parking area began in August 2001 and was completed by March 2002.

A new garden trail on the theme of Edible Fruits was developed and further plants were added to the Garden's already extensive collection of aloes, euphorbias and Madagascan plants. A section of the Aloe koppie was used for an Aloes for Africa display, including African, Madagascan and Saudi Arabian aloes.
New plantings of typical forest plants grown from seed collected from the forests of Zululand were done in the Afromontane Forest area. Major tree planting at the concert stage and waterfall area was undertaken, as well as landscaping of the areas around the new Visitors' Centre and Education Centre. Theft of cycads in the Garden has been controlled thanks to increased security. The traditional medicinal plants garden demanded much maintenance as this area is very popular with both visitors and school groups.

A Garden Expo organized by the Botanical Society and Rotary was held in the Garden as well as a Magic of Christmas show and craft market. The popular annual K-TV Market Day again attracted a number of younger visitors to the Garden.

Garden staff arranged exhibits at the Pretoria International Show and the Kyalami Outdoor Show and assisted education staff with the planting of a newly developed indigenous garden at Banareng Primary School.

On the conservation front, success was enjoyed with the flowering for the first time of a rare Amaryllis paradisicola following a specialized feeding programme. The Pretoria NBG, along with the Witwatersrand NBG, is involved in a joint conservation project on the rare Protea roupelliae subsp. hamiltonii and a number of trips were undertaken to collect vegetative material of this plant. Garden staff also assisted the Rare and Endangered Species Unit and the forensic laboratory of the SA Police Services in various cases of stolen cycads.