Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center

Shangri La began in 1937, when H. J. Lutcher Stark started building gardens on his land along Adams Bayou in Orange. He took the name from the mystical retreat in James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon, and nine years of planning and construction followed, with Stark overseeing every detail. He opened the gardens to the public in 1946.

A major snowstorm in 1958 destroyed most of the plants, including Stark's azaleas, and he closed the gardens to the public. They stayed closed for nearly 50 years. Today Shangri La is a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, a private operating foundation, and it covers more than 250 acres.

What you walk through now is part botanical garden and part nature center. The gardens include Storybook Gardens, Garden Rooms and Sculpture Gardens. The nature side has the Nature Discovery Center, a cypress-tupelo swamp, Adams Bayou, Ruby Lake, the Survivor Tree and a Heronry Blind for watching nesting birds. Free Outpost Tours run on a pontoon boat on the bayou, though they are seasonal and can be cancelled for weather, heat or water conditions. Admission is free except for the Christmas Strolls. The gardens are open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry at 4:30, at 2111 W. Park Avenue. Holiday closures are posted on the Visit page.