Arden developed an interest in tropical plants in his late teens after finding a small nursery supplying aroids and other interesting and unusual plants on Latrobe Tce, Paddington Brisbane. That interest gradually grew and diversified. Information and species were limited so he felt the only way to learn more about the plants was to travel to the countries from which they come. So in 1992 he traveled to PNG. Since then he has traveled extensively in the tropical areas of the New and Old World with his partner Chris, exploring and searching for plants and observing the environments from which they originate. Arden owns Equatorial Exotics nursery in Cairns.