Ever since the publication of James Hilton’s Lost Horizon in 1933, the term “shangri la” has been used to refer to an unattainable utopia, a place of beauty, peace and enlightenment. The Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center, 2111 West Park Avenue, Orange, Texas, are more earth-bound — and definitely attainable!

Its 252 acres of gardens include formal botanical gardens with more than 300 plant species. The Nature Center includes Adams Bayou boat excursions to educational outposts, a 15-acre Beaver Pond, a state-of-the-art bird blind, a bat house, thousands of nesting birds in Ruby Lake, and more up-close encounters with nature.

Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is the first project in Texas (and the 50th project in the world) to earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum Certification for LEED®-NC, which verifies that the design and construction of Shangri La reached the highest green building and performance measures.

It’s a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, a private foundation whose mission is to improve and enrich the quality of life in Southeast Texas and encourage and assist education.

The gardens are near Beaumont. For more information on visiting that part of Texas, go online.