Tim Alderton is a native of Brookville, Pennsylvania. He has had a love of plants since he was a child growing up helping in his family’s small greenhouse and exploring the woods near where he lived. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 2002 with a BS in horticulture. Following his graduation, he interned in the education department at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, GA. He moved to Raleigh in March of 2005 to accept a position at Plant Delights Nursery. In January 2006 he started at the JC Raulston Arboretum as their horticulture technician.

He is a member of the National and Piedmont chapters of the North American Rock Garden Society. In recent years he has been travel about North Carolina and other parts of the country botanizing getting to know the flora of our country as well as participated in the 2023 NARGS trip to Argentine Patagonia.

Tim regularly speaks to the Piedmont chapter and has also spoken to the Alleganhy, Potomac, and Rocky Mountain chapters. In 2017 he spoke at the annual meeting in Raleigh and in November of 2025 he was a speaker for "The Wandering Rock Gardener, Stories from High and Wild Places."