Give us the time frame for your planting as that will help to determine what bulbs may be available. Also you mention students, does that mean the bloom time is limited to a cut off date such as the end of a school semester? Al

It is too late to plant bulbs that will be blooming in time for Lent (begins 2/25/09), although you will likely find already started, containerized selections at local nurseries, even grocery stores, closer to that date. These generally run quite a bit more expensive than planting 'bare' bulbs, which should be done in fall for spring bloom.

If you want to plant actual bulbs at that time, consider planting lilies - readily available at that time and often quite inexpensive (depending on size and selection). The drawback is that these will not bloom until June at the earliest, so your students may miss the actual flowering. Some native bulbs may be a good choice also, but their cost and availability may be limiting.

Bulb rule of thumb: spring flowering bulbs are planted fall; summer flowering bulbs are planted in spring.

Please tell me if it is safe to seperate and move elephant ears at this time . I live in central NC. This is a zone 7

spenshook
Your EE should be without foliage in your zone. If you dig them up and separate the roots I would pot them up for now and keep the pots in a protected area, only replant after the frost. Established plants live through the winter with foliage frosted back, but newly planted roots may rot in cold damp soil. Al