I took a method from one of my ornamental grass books and used it last year, a little apprehensively but it worked very well. I cut the lawn area that was to be turned into a garden bed very short and sprayed with Roundup. In 1-2 weeks the grass was dead, I dug holes 2-3 times as big as the rootballs of the plants, planted, and covered the area with some bark mulch (more to hide the dead grass look than anything). The sod under the mulch is quickly decomposing. This was so much easier than removing sod - I'm reclaiming some more lawn area this year and plan to do it exactly the same way.

I use a modified version of the lasagna bed with great success. This has been recommended in several books and articles as a back saving way to start new beds instantly. Lay several thicknesses of newspaper down right on top of the grass in the shape of the intended new gardenbed. No glossy sale ads please. Of course I do remove any large weeds etc. Then I pour as many bags of $1.00/bag topsoil as needed directly on the papers to make a raised bed high enough and wide enough for the grasses and/or other plants. If I am planting bigger shrubs or trees etc I do dig down into the soil a big hole about half the depth of the large plant. After the planting is done and you have finished watering then the wet excess newspaper easily tears off along the edges to look neat and trim. The newspaper naturally decays over time and suppresses the weeds. This also provides a bed of loose friable soil with fresh natural nutrients. You have a raised bed for good drainage and professional appearance.
You also dont run the risk of tilling up long buried weed seeds to the surface either.

Sue
"The one thing all gardeners share in common is a belief in tomorrow"

Thanks to you both! I am going to start plotting out the bed this weekend on some graph paper - I guess that is the simplest way to do it. So far i have only planned a bed for 1500 bulbs. that I did rather haphazadardly too - and I don't want to make mistakes this time. So can I ask a stupid question?

how do you know which way the grass will flop if it is floppy grass?

does it flop in a big circle? so if it will be 5 ft wide eventually that means it is a 5ft circle and you should plant it in the middle of where you want it to be? I know this sounds dumb! I planted some sunflowers once a long time ago at the end of my driveway. I thought they would be so pretty as you pulled in. THey ended up facing sideways though becasue of the sun (DUH!) and the deer ate them as soon as they bloomed. I was so mad. they were giant sunflowers - so all that time waiting for them to grow and bloom and then they faced the wrong way and they were tromped on in a day or so! Oh well. live and learn.

As for the grass flopping a certain way my experiences have not taught me anything that dictates which way the grass will flop. The wind or a constant breeze might have some influence but I have not kept a diary to substantiate this fact.

The one item that I do know is many of our grasses will flop if the get too much water. How do you stop such an event if one gets into a rainy season? Good question.

Plenty of sun ( all day ), do not amend the soil with hi nutrients or compost and hold off on watering.

We do not even fertilize our grasses unless there is some over spreading (using a whirly bird  broadcast spreader) when the yard is fertilized.

These are the rules that we subscribe to and they seem to work well when we follow them.

Jake

As for where to plant it, yes - the grass will expand from the center outward to form a circle, so center the plant initially.

As for the direction of the flop.....

I have several grasses in a wind tunnel between two buildings. They don't flop one way or the other. When you asked the question, I initially thought as Jake did that the wind may have good bearing on it. However, as I reflect upon it some more, I think maybe the search for light will have some bearing on it as well. Where the light is less, the plant leaves tend to go out on more of an angle.

I do have one grass that a friend gave me, and it just flops anywhere. I cannot see any reasons why it flops. She told me it was fairly straight for her, but for me, it flops. Maybe it is getting too much moisture, as Jake suggests again. Hmmmmm, maybe it is time to move it to another spot.