How do you control the size of carex pendula?

Hi Haighi, I bought a carex pendula for my small pond a few years ago and rue the day. It seeds everywhere! It has grown so big that I can't get it out of my pond 'cos of the weight. Those lovely pendulous flower spikes on delightfully arching stems have become one of the banes of my life. However, if you have a large pond and don't mind loads of the blighters in your surrounding flower beds, you can enjoy its quiet charm and beauty, and I suppose they are not terribly hard to dig out. I wish that I had split mine on a regular basis to keep it small, according to my book, they can grow up to 5 ft across.

Bornagain, does it have to be planted by a pond? I have a small bed under a five foot wall that is very wet in winter but would dry out in a dry period. I tried growing a tomato plant for two years as it faces due south, but the tomatoes went brown and didn't ripen. I thought carex pendula might do a good job of filling up the space, but you have made me nervous! I can't think of many things that would tolerate so much winter wet and still survive if there was a long dry spell.There is a climbing rose on an arch at one end and that seems to be flourishing.

I can only say give it a go...I think it would take a lot of killing lol. Perhaps you could give it the odd drink in the dry time? I still find some little ones in the border near th pond, but they are small and I just pull them out. Try googling some of the acorus family too, maybe one of them may do the job...or bamboo...there's a low growing one called pleioblastus variegatus, very pretty, mine was about 3 to 4 feet high or so, that may do the job. Welcome to GOY:-)

The acorus are pretty and would look ok - but it was the overhanging flowers of the carex that appealed to me. You obvously agree with me about them - but I'm sorry they have got a bit carried away.I hadn't thought of bamboo. Thanks for the suggestions.
:)

What about philaris feesey, a beautiful grass, if you look at my pics you'll see it. It can grow quite tall and looks beautiful most of the time. It can run, but doesn't seed around:-)