Grow your very own Agave Maria with seed from celebrity plant

There are 158 chances for the public to grow their very own massive agave plant.

The Halifax Public Gardens is giving away 158 agave seedsthat were collected from the municipality's most famous warm-weather loving plant on a first-come, first-served basis Thursday afternoon.

The plant,affectionately nicknamed "Agave Maria" by some, caused a sensationlast year when the more than 450-kilogram Agave americanasent up a metres-long,asparagus-likestalk that made it too large to fit in the Public Gardens greenhouse.

Staff had to move it outside in chilly April temperatures and thought the frost would kill it. But the plant survived and drew thousands of visitors over the summer.

The agave blooms only once in its lifetime then dies. Once Agave Maria began to die last fall and the seed pods had ripened, staff removed it from the ground and began the harvesting process. That included drying out the plant then manually extracting the seeds from the flowers.

Halifax Public Gardens staff said that process took weeks.

The plants are native to arid climates like parts of Mexico and usually live about 30 years. On average the plants bloom at about 25 years and then, with their reproductive duty complete, they die.

The seeds will be available to the public Thursday from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. in the Horticultural Hall of the Halifax Public Gardens on the Spring Garden Road side of the gardens. There's a limit of one seed per person while supplies last.