Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is a 252-acre private garden and preserve in Orange, Texas, uniting formal botanical spaces with forest, swamp, wetlands, and open water habitat. Begun by H. J. Lutcher Stark in 1942, it opened in 1946 before severe cold in the mid-1950s destroyed its azaleas and forced closure. After Nelda C. Stark bequeathed the property to the Nelda C. and H. J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, restoration gradually created the present gardens and nature center. Despite major hurricane damage in 2005 and 2008, it reopened in 2009 and gained distinction for environmentally advanced design and wildlife observation.