The Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria, otherwise known as the Wisteria Sinensis ‘Cooke’S Purple’ or Variegated Spanish Dagger, ‘Bright Star’ Yucca, Yucca gloriosa ‘Walbristar’, Yucca gloriosa var. recurvifolia ‘Walbristar’, is a rather well known cactus/succulent plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and fast growth, this cactus/succulent will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
Fortunately, taking care of your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria Care Guide. Now let’s get started.
The basic care guidelines you need to remember for your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria are the following:
- Water: The Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria needs evenly spread moist soil – try to avoid letting the soil dry out.
- Light: Keep your Wisteria Sinensis ‘Cooke’S Purple’ in an environment where it can receive filtered to full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria in soil with well-draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of sand, chalk, and loam.
And as with many other plants, these are the only three care factors you need to remember to make sure your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria is, for the most part, healthy and well to survive.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria belongs to the Asparagaceae family, the genus Yucca and the species Gloriosa, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Wisteria Sinensis ‘Cooke’S Purple’ (wis-TEE-ri-a sy-NEN-sis).
As with other Yucca’s, the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria is a deciduous plant, which means it will shed its leaves annually once autumn comes.
Growing Region
The Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria is a plant native to the SE USA.
You might be wondering why your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria’s native region is important. Well, if you know where your plant originally came from, you’ll know which environment conditions it prefers, and with it, knowledge on how to replicate it at home.
With this in mind, the Wisteria Sinensis ‘Cooke’S Purple’ will be most used to the heat zones in the 7 – 12 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 7b, 7a, 8a, 8b, 9b, 9a, 10b, 10a, 11b, 11a and the ideal climate zone is between 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria is a relatively fast grower, which makes things tricky for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But what exactly does this mean for your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria? How large a pot should you consider, how tall, how wide can it get? Let’s jump in…
The Wisteria Sinensis ‘Cooke’S Purple’ can grow up to 3′ (90cm) in 3′ (90cm) and 3′ (90cm) in 3′ (90cm).
These dimensions make the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria a relatively medium cactus/succulent compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 36″ – 48″ (90cm – 120cm) free so the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria can spread to its best extent.
Water
In terms of watering, the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria is a fairly complicated plant to take care of.
This is mostly because it has a not so straightforward watering schedule and somewhat irregular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Wisteria Sinensis ‘Cooke’S Purple’ needs evenly spread moist soil – try to avoid letting the soil dry out.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively low needs in terms of water.
Watering
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria in soil with well-draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, moist, occasionally dry, and very dry properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
But, if you want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to watering your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria then you should consider the famous ‘finger’ test. To perform this test, you just need to put your finger in your plant’s soil and determine if it’s moist or not. If it is, then don’t water; if it isn’t, then please do. In any case, this test will allow you to know if your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria needs or does not need water, every time.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria prefers to have soil with good drainage, moist, occasionally dry, and very dry properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of sand, chalk, and loam.
This is why most experts agree that the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria requires soil with loam (silt), and sand, which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably alkaline, acid or neutral soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria requires filtered to full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this cactus/succulent will do well as long as you keep it in partial to full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Wisteria Sinensis ‘Cooke’S Purple’ in little to partial shade (only 2-6 hours of direct sunlight a day), to full and direct sun (more 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being a deciduous plant, the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria will shed its leaves annually once autumn comes.
But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the spring (early, mid, late), the summer (early, mid, late), the fall, and during the winter.
Flowers
You can expect your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria to flower around the spring, summer and the fall months from April to June (spring), from July to September (summer), and from October to December (fall).
In particular, this cactus/succulent is well known for its repeat flowering, fragrant and showy flowers around the plant enthusiast community.
The Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria produces some beautiful purple, or red/burgundy, cream/tanpurple/lavender, and white flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria have a beautiful green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a simple arrangement with a rosulate organization in its leaves.
You can expect the leaves from your Wisteria Sinensis ‘Cooke’S Purple’ to be around (> 6 inches) in size.
Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria is well known for its tolerance to salt, rocky soil, drought and animals like rabbit and deer, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Wisteria Sinensis ‘Cooke’S Purple’ will be fine.
Garden
Does your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria have any garden recommendations? Does it serve any gardening purposes? Here’s how you can get the most out of your new plant.
Most Wisteria Sinensis ‘Cooke’S Purple’ owners agree that this cactus/succulent will look great in most mediterranean, asian/zen cottage, and rustic gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of informal and cottage, city and courtyard, gravel and rock garden, and in mediterranean garden styles.
In particular, the Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria’s best location within your garden is in beds and borders, and in patio and containers, others use it for landscaping in a specimen, espalier, privacy screen, or a urban garden.
Companion Plants
Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the Rosa, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Hemerocallis will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
And we’ve come to an end. Fortunately, that’s everything you need to know about your Cooke’s Purple™ Wisteria to keep it safe and sound in your garden or home. Enjoy planting!
