What is this please and how on earth do I cut it back?

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We moved in with this plant and it’s got huge over the last year. I can’t seem to find what it is? I don’t think it’s lemon grass as it has a different ‘trunk?’
Anyone know?
How do I cut it back? It’s starting to block out light from the window- need is shorter and not as wide.
Can’t just chop as the blunt ends would look ridiculous and spoil the whole look of it. I don’t want to get rid entirely just make it smaller!
Any help appreciated!

Here are the photos - don’t think they attached

I'm no gardener and have no clue about plants but is it a pampas grass without the feathers? My neighbour had one and she was always swearing at it because it grew so fast and spread everywhere.

Thank you for your suggestion @fairydustandpixies I don’t think it’s pampas because I’ve had those before and I think the blades are much thinner and finer. These are quite thick and wide blades

Can you get a photo of the trunk? It looks like my cordyline, but mines in a pot so has stayed smaller. I just take the dead lower leaves off. I'm not sure this is a plant you can trim to make shorter, unless it's a grass, then you can cut it down to the ground.

Thank you @longtompot, can you see the photo where I am pulling the leaves back? That is the trunk! It’s got dead leaves on but you can’t pull them off, they need to by cut

You need to be careful if it’s a pampas!!!

Wouldn’t want to be giving out the wrong message!!!😁. Hide your car keys.

I think it might be a Cordyline, possibly Australis. You can make it more atrractive and reduce its bulk by removing all the lower brown leaves which will give it a palm-like appearance.

It doesn’t seem to have a trunk as such! It’s a mystery but it’s literally getting huge! Don’t want to have to dig it all out! It looks nice when a bit smaller- it’s just got too big!

@TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince

You need to be careful if it’s a pampas!!!

Wouldn’t want to be giving out the wrong message!!!😁. Hide your car keys.

Only recently learned this about pampas grasses and I'm moving house close to a work colleague who's known to be a swinger. I can't plant pampas now

@Noflora thank you! The trouble is it’s in front of a downstairs window at the front of my house! Don’t want to rip it all out but neither do I want a tree with a trunk growing in right front of my window!

Happierwithouthim😁☹️.

Never mind. Maybe you could ask her to move? Your garden is far more important than her sex life!

@Noflora

I think it might be a Cordyline, possibly Australis. You can make it more atrractive and reduce its bulk by removing all the lower brown leaves which will give it a palm-like appearance.

I think it’s a Cordyline too. You’d need to remove all the lower brown leaves or remove the whole thing. They grow quite tall.

I agree it’s a cordyline. They are a nightmare to fully removed as the roots grow very deep. You can hack it right back and it will come back again. If you remove bottom leaves it will just get taller and taller. If you want to keep it small you need to take it right back and watch as new shoots appear. Green ones are hardy, red ones less so.

If it is a cordyline, then ime if you cut it back to the ground it will resprout from the base

@Roo1000 thank you- I was wondering about cordyline but couldn’t see a trunk! I don’t want it to get taller - weird place to put it right in front of the window!
So how do I cut it back? Just literally chop all the grass stems to stumps?

I think it's a sedge , they can be cut back as in chopped down and they grow back next spring , they can be invasive over time , personally ( having had a number of them in a previous property ) I would dig up and replace with something else as they can get pretty big and baby sedge spring up everywhere

Start from right at the bottom and they should just come off. I cut off the brown ones that are closer to the green leaves. I think you probably need to try and move it as it's blocking light. Though, if you can bear with it for a while, it should soon have a trunk and the leafy part will be above your window. That's if it is a cordyline or sim.

A bit more info on it here www.rhs.org.uk/plants/4361/Cordyline-australis/Details

Yes you can cut through the actual trunk at the base and new leaves will sprout in the spring. We tried to dig one out (and it was only small) and couldn’t get the whole root ball out and it still continues to sprout. They are better off in pots rather than in the garden as they are difficult to remove otherwise.

If you download the google app and hold the lens over it, google will tell you what it is.

Cut it down to a smaller height. It will almost certainly survive, but will likely form branches.
I'd say it is a cordyline.

Thank you so far for your suggestions! Very helpful. I’m a bit nervous of just hacking it down but guess there isn’t much option when it’s got so big!
I have tried doing the google lens thing and it did suggest cordyline but it’s just that mine has no trunk so I didn’t think it would be that!

Get in there with some secateurs, cut all the dead leaves off and then see what you've got.

It won't have a trunk for a while, until the lower leaves fall off. They can grow very tall. Also, if they die of cold, they usually grow back.

Mine did when we had a very cold winter, but they grew back and are now tall again, but they did look like that for a while.