If you have a south or west facing window you sure can over winter them inside. I have been doing it for more years than I can remember. There are other ways to save them for the next year too, but I'll get into that in a bit. First here is what I do. I try to get the shortest bushiest ones.I remove all the flowers and buds, and cut them back, to a leaf, to make a nicely shaped plant. I pot them up and put them in my south facing window. I only fertilize once or twice during the winter with diluted strength and only water when they are dry. When they get tall shoots during the winter, I cut them back. Every time you cut them back they make new shoots and I want this so I can take cuttings in the spring. I got 41 cuttings off of 4 plants this spring. If you have a cold cellar or a place that is just above freezing you can store them there for the winter and let them go dormant or you can hang them upside down, bare root, in a paper bag(punch holes in the bag) For both these 2 you need a cool dry dark place that is just above freezing. In the spring, pot up the bare roots--the rest is for both ways. Move into indirect light and give a little water. Not too much--they have no feeder roots yet. Gradually increase the water and move more and more into direct sunlight and only then when they are growing well give them a mild 1/4 strength fertilizer I hope this helps

Hi daliah. I have been successful keeping mine in a cool garage for the winter. The garage is kept just above freezing and I only water a few times to keep the plant from completely drying out. I then start watering weekly about Mar. and when it is actively growing again, I start to fertilize. Then you have a nice geranium to plant out in the spring. Just don't forget to harden off the plant by putting it out for a few hours when its nice out. Here's how I do it. In the fall, I dig up the plant, trim the roots and the top. Then I repot in fresh soil and water with well. I also spray the plant with insecticidal soap. If I use the original container it was in I spray that to. This will help kill any insect eggs. There were times I brought the container in. When I did this I placed the container in a dry cleaners bag/large garbage bag and sprayed with the soap mix and poured the rest over the soil. That makes sure the spray got in every nook and cranny. Some people just hang them upside down in the basement. I have never had luck with that. You could also take cuttings. Hope this helps some. Marg

So you drove the neighbors away? (just teasing!) One year I tried pulling all the geraniums out of the flower bed, placing in one container (bunching together) and surrounded the roots with soil and placed in a cool crawlspace. They survived fairly well. Some plants won't survive totally but enough of the stem survives to stick into soil in spring and get it to root. One question though, do the usual storage methods apply to every type of geranium? I have a scented geranium (coconut) which I would just like to store in a dark spot for winter. I tried making cuttings but it didn't seem to work. Glen

The plant called geraniums that is grown as a bedding annual is actually a pelargonium. There was a mix-up back when old Linnaeus was running around naming things, and the name stuck ;-) Pelargoniums are annuals in the north, as a hard freeze will kill them. I keep some old blankets and sheets around, and just watch the forecasts. 'Pellies' aren't sissies about the cold though, they will do fine through a light frost with a blanket. I extend the season in the fall with blankets too. They just grow much slower when it is chilly. They also don't like it too hot either, by the way. Mine suffer a bit when it gets in the mid-high nineties. True geraniums are hardy perennials, many are native to North America. There is some similarities to the leaves, and the flower shape between the two species. But, pelargoniums are native to Africa, where they are perennials, and succulents at that. Both are great plants. Both get discussed on this forum. It is a bit confusing at first. If you overwintered yours in the house, you have pelargoniums. :-) The FAQs on this forum has a better explanation of the name mix-up than I gave. I can hardly wait to put my pellies outside for the year. :-) Oh, and I'm just a gardener out to learn. More knowledgeable posters, please correct anything that I was incorrect about.