Congrats. I'm currently in my fourth year regrowing geraniums I stored bare-root in the basement. I just remove most of the dirt from the roots and put the plants upside down in boxes on the floor in a dark basement room. The temperature down there stays above 60, which sounds high, but the plants do very well. The first couple winters I soaked the roots a couple times, but I've found that doesn't help their survival. What I have found is that first-year plants with thinner stems just need to be restarted a little early the following spring. Once a geranium is two or more years old it will have thicker stems and will easily survive the winter. My third and fourth-year plants are so mature and thick I could leave them bare-root in the boxes through summer and they'd still be fine. Once I cut them back and pot them up in spring they begin to put out growth in about five days, and then they grow very quickly. I used to pot them up in March, but because of their high growth rate I now wait until sometime in April.

I'm assuming you are referring to pelargonium geraniums. If you wish to take cuttings from the plant just before any frost hits it, then that is one way to over-winter the plant. Take the slip by cutting just below a node. Each cutting should be about 4" long. Allow to set for a couple hours before putting it into freshwater, sharp sand. Sharp sand is the type builders use....not the beach variety or the sand from the kids sandbox. Dip the cuttings in some rooting hormone, shake off any excess and plant in the medium. Remove all but a couple of the top leaves. Put them then into cool light--no harsh sun--water as necessary to keep damp. Don't fertilize. Let them get some roots first, let them show you something before trying to force feed them. After they have rooted, put them into 4" pots. If you wish, start them in 2 1/2" pots before transplanting them into the 4"ers. Begin fertilizing according to their growth. Do quarter rate until they grow to size. Have you tried to over-winter them by simply putting them somewhere where they can be left alone....to dry out..completely. Don't think that plants to overwinter must be kept watered, kept moist, kept in light. That's nonsense.....where geraniums are concerned. If you can put the plant somewhere in a cool environment...cool being above freezing, below 55 or so. An old fridge will do...it must be tho kept running thru winter. That can be a problem for the cooling unit if the outside temperatures are near the zero mark. If you have such a place....then all you have to do is remove them from the container (or bed) they're in. Shake off any loose soil. Take them to the cool area and hang them up, upside down to stay there until we want them to grow again. No water, no light, no nothing....should touch the plants. They should be allowed to remain where they are, untouched by anything....then in mid February, they come out, are cut back, put into fresh potting soil, put into a sunny window, watered well... and watch.....they'll come back better than ever. If you follow this....don't be tempted to spritz them with water---what would that do ...we dont want them to grow...we don't want them to have light put on them...they don't need either. They need to be left alone....until we want them to grow again.

Anigozanthus flavidus is one of the easiest to grow, and best to slightly abuse here in northern California, but does do best with perfect drainage and siting to keep it dry and sheltered from cold wet winds in winter. As it is native to seasonally swampy peaty soils in western Australia, it shouldn't reasonably be expected to have much frost tolerance, but it does take short periods of low 20'sF and come back from the roots. In fact, it is often burnt back to the roots to generate fresh foliage free of black ink spot disease, which is also very common on older plants here, and eventually disfigures the plant and weakens it. So losing top growth annually to frost shouldn't be an issue if the plant has strong roots. This plant does best with good drainage, full sun, and good air circulation. It will continue to bloom into winter here if given some protection from extreme wet and winds. If you have room to bring it into a cool greenhouse or sunporch, and treat it as a container plant, you will no doubt have a larger more vigorous plant come summer. If they are available as vigorous one or five gallon plants in spring from California, this might be a more practical way of enjoying the plant. One of my personal favorites, but then they look great here at least 10 months of the year, and are not at all demanding. I highly recommend the cultivar 'Harmony' for deeper, lusher green foliage and beautiful deep orange red stems and yellow flowers on stalks to 5 or 6 feet tall.

I wish I could help with info on begonias but I am just now venturing into my very first begonia plants (free!) and I'm afraid I already goofed on those, bigtime. But thanks to everyone responding here, maybe I'll try the begonias again as I've learned so much just reading this topic! About Geraniums....I learned they don't much like water. Kinda like a little kid who doesn't mind splashing water with their hand while standing outside the tub but don't dare put them IN the tub without a fight. Same with Geraniums. My Mother-In-Law passed away two years ago this coming Sept. The 'vultures' left everything that Didn't have a monetary value. I went to the house in June to see if there was anything left that would remind me of my precious MIL. Not much, but I did see a couple 'sticks' in a very old/vintage clay pot at the back of the driveway. As I got closer to the 'sticks' I realized it was the geranium plant my MIL loved so much. The clay pot it was in was special to my MIL because it belonged to her mother. The poor plant had been unattended to for almost 2 years. Brought the plant and clay pot home. I waited for several weeks, giving the plant a little water a day as to not to scare it and to slowly moisten and soften the very old dirt (hard clay dirt!) around the plant. Three weeks later I had some growth at the very top of the plant. I cut all the sticks back to about 2 inches in height. I used a fresh, clean (sanitized) planter. Half fresh planting mix and Half clean, fine sand and some time-released vitamins. I wet the soil/sand mixture well, put the sticks in and prayed to the Geranium Goddess for success. I did not water the geranium until I could stick my index finger all the way down the soil as far as it would go and not feel any moisture. Then I'd give it a good soaking and not again until the finger told me the soil needed it. I love the look of 'urned' geraniums and wish I had some nice urns to show off mine. I hope for the best for your plants....I'm sure they will come around with all the help and suggestions you've been given from well-informed posters above! And get some pics up for us who love urned plants but don't have any. About three weeks here at home: Yesterday: