fumbler wrote in message
...
Hope I'm not pushing my luck here! - posters have been very helpful,
please let me know if I'm becoming too greedy for info. I've got a
few gardening books with pics but really don't know where to start
looking to identify this. It looks like a giant chive. Long, thin,
clean - almost polished looking - green tubes about 3mm diameter,
almost 5 ft high, finishing with a needle point and a little pom-pom
cluster of now-brownish flowers , a ball about 4 cms diameter located
at about 25cms or so from the top of each stem. Persistent rain has
caused a lot of this to keel over so I'd like to snip that back if
it's safe to do so. Ground level? Could I/should I leave those stems
which are still upright and decorative? And what is it called?
thanks for any answers.

Sounds like one of the Schoenoplectus types:
http://www.missouriplants.com/GSR/Sc...gens_page.html
http://fleurs.cirad.fr/s/schoenoplectus_articulatus
http://www.amanita-photolibrary.co.u...emontani20.htm

Is it growing in or near water?

Jenny