Linnea, Next fall, let your begonia be touched by frost. Much like dahlia, the frost will kill the foliage. That's your cue to bring them in --- to a garage or other place, where they have the stalks removed, flowers go too, and let them dry for a couple days before they go into storage. Just like geraniums, they can be stored where it is cool, dark, and dry. There left to spend the winter. No sprinkling, no water of any kind, no light which can initiate growth, no heat...just cool, in the range of 38 - 50ºF.... AT this time you might make note of the color of the flower on each bulb so that next spring, you can plant accoridng to that wish. If the bulb doesn't have a particular look showing which side is up, put them on a shelf designating which end had the roots. Most times though you can feel the concave end---that's the top. Old roots too can give it away. Now I believe the frost treatment allows the bulb to send its starches and sugars back down into the bulb....much like why we let the tulips wilt on the vine, to do the same. The next spring, the bulb has all the energy that wasn't destroyed by removing the foliage too soon. If the begonia goes inside to enjoy the bloom for as long as it will, then do much the same, remove the foliage, let it dry, then store it where cool. As far as why the foliage wilted, the distinct temperature change from out of doors to indoors, is probably what caused it. Keep cutting back the water and let the bulb use less and let it go dry.

I got my cannas from my mother. They are now nearly 40 years old. I grew up in Michigan watching her dig them up every year. After about 30 years I'd say she finally perfected a simple process with very nearly a 100% survival rate. This is what you do- First off, we had an attached garage. (if you don't, there are options) My father ran a furnace duct into it to give it just one heat vent. This kept the 3-car garage above 40* all Winter. Perfect for the cannas. If a heated garage is not an option, I've heard of people building insulated boxes with light bulbs and such instead. Personally, I would just rescue an old refrigerator from a landfill and put a common heating pad in it. Or a bird bath heater, or I might bypass the light switch in the door so it's own light never goes off. Whatever. Just keep them above 40*. Well she would dig them up, rinse off all the soil and dip them in a common fungicidal solution available in most nurseries. She also bought a cheap paper shredder that sits over the waste basket at her desk. She not only has way too much fun with it, she found that shredded junk mail and news paper was better than peat moss, mulch, or soil for storing bulbs and tubers. It's also free. She put the bulbs in layers of shredded paper inside stacks of milk crates. She liked her bulbs to be at least the size of her foot before she would consider dividing. The bigger the bulb, the bigger the plant would be. She also hung a spray bottle of mostly water with a little garden fungicide on the stack of crates. She would mist them all down every few weeks or whenever she thought about it. Just to keep it all about as moist as a pile of leaves on a forest floor. Not soggy. Humid. The latticed milk crates and shredded paper offered plenty of air circulation while her infrequent spraying kept them moist and mildew-free. Each Spring they came out looking as if they had just been dug up the day before, plump, shiny and purple. The large foot-sized bulbs always grew into plants that were 7-9 feet tall, several inches above the gutters. (Miracle Gro, hint-hint)

im my zone tubers survive in the soil, but large parts of it rott. I had left three dull cultivars in the ground as a way of culling, and 2 sprouted the flowing season. When I prepared the bed and removed those bulbs, the clumps where mushy-messy-rotted and only a smallish part was growing. ---- I think that in an average modern building air humidity and temperature are the problem or the key. The air is too dry to keep tubers all winter without covering stuff. I store my tubers in a cellar/basement that get`s somewhat heated just by pipes and stuff. I keep them in plastic boxes covered in something like turface (but no dusty particles) basically little bits of backed clay. So it is soil-less, well airated and the bits retain enough moisture to keep the bulbs from dehydrating. I check them regularly, like every second week and add some water, very carefully. Sometimes the dry old stems get / show mildew, then it was too much water. As we have wireworms (which eat their way into Dahlia and potatoe tubers and others) in the garden (larvaes of a black beatle), I really prefer to wash my tubers in order to get rid of all those critters. ----- and about mature or hardened tubers. This year I dug up my first batch of tubers while it was still warm (in order to stagger the work). Some of those got really squishy and soft after a few days. The last batch got some days of frost (because I couldn`t work fast enough). After washing them I just let them dry in the basement, not covered yet. And those are still nice and firm after a week. So, some aspects to consider, bye, Lin

barely damp soil, kept cool but not freezing. That worked for me, last season. Same deal with my fancy gingers.