Yes it is possible. Lift the plants before the first frost and pot them into fresh potting compost. Keep them in a frost free well lit environment away from direct sun at a temperature of about 5 degrees Celsius, centigrade in old money. Keep them on the dry side do not overwater and they should be fine. You may wish to spray them against pests and fungi. If they make too much growth you can pinch out the growing tips.

I was wondering the same thing, but with all of our other plants brought inside for the cold Wisconsin winter we don't have space to keep four pots of generic geraniums inside. My mother-in-law has kept one geranium through a couple of winters using the following technique...

When nights get to frreezing, remove plants from planters
and knock off all of the excess soil from the roots. let them dry out, put them in a paper bag and leave them in a dark cool place over the winter. We will keep ours in the crawl space under our downstairs steps - it stays maybe 50 degrees or so. She says that in the spring she sees some new growth and when she plants it she prunes back to where the new growth is occurring.

Has anyone else tried this? We are going to give it a whirl - they were inexpensive so we figure it is no great loss.

Has anyone done this with plants other than geraniums?

Thanks,

LD

The method of keeping geraniums over winter is very easy......if you can keep the plant cool and dry.
The cool must come from an area of the house that does not experience temperatures that would otherwise do damage to the plant. So no freezing which could do damage to leaves, no heat which could initiate growth.

The sun's values at this time of year is down....and going lower fast. In another 2 months, we'll have the lowest point of the year for the sun...winter solstace will be upon us and plants do poorly because of it.

So we put the plants away until the sun returns in mid February. Cool and dry...no water, no light.

The crawl space will do fine as long as the floor is given a moisture barrier...and temperatures are constantly in the cool range...40 to 50 F. (5 to 10 C)

The plant should not be cut back until we wish it to be re-invigorated...and that's in February.
Hung up or in the Kraft paper bag....which is left open for good air circulation, the plant can then be brought out, cut back to about 4", all leaves and damaged parts removed, the roots teased and spread wide, given fresh potting soil (mixed with sand and peat moss if you like) put into a 6 or 8 inch clay pot, watered to the point of draining..always....and given the best sun you can find. Right into the window...a west or south exposure is best but east will do fine. North will not do.

Further watering is not given until new growth is evident.
Then, resume watering and always until drainage is seen in the saucer below....the excess dumped.
The surface should be allowed to dry about 1" down between waterings. At this time, you can begin to feed the plant 1/2 rate 20/20/20. Always water the plant first, then fertilize. Each day...or two, the plant is turned so that all parts of the plant receives equal sun.

It might take 4, 5, 6 weeks for the plant to gain full foliage....and by the 6th week, you may see the beginnings of flower buds.
But this depends on just how good the sun is and other factors.

The other method is to keep the plant going as a houseplant.
It should be (can be) repotted into fresh potting soil (again mixed with sand and peat moss to increase good drainage)cut back to 4" or so, watered well (always to drainage) and given the best sun you can find....west or south. Do not water again until new growth is evident, then water as necessary and feed 1/2 rate 20/20/20.....water first, then fertilize.
Never feed a dry plant...chances are the fertilizer will not be making it to the roots...but lies somewhere in-between.
Turn the plant 1/4 turn every day.

You may, for the first little while get new growth but as the sun goes lower and lower, the plant will slow down.
It will need much less water....and you must not feed a plant that is not growing. Artificial light may be given the plant until the sun resumes better values.

Or.....take cuttings.

In our rather mild zone 8 climate (Sunset zone 4 or 5), many pelargoniums will overwinter in the ground without any additional attention. It's not a guarantee and it depends on the severity of the winter, but I have had a fancy leaf pelargonium growing in a window box for 3 years - zonals are somewhat hardier and should be even more likely to survive.

Extremely easy to grow from late season cuttings as well, should you not want to risk it not making it through. But since these guys are available a dime a dozen everywhere in late spring, I don't even bother. If they make it, great - if not, I just replant with fresh stock.

Thank you so much for this information. I am not particularly fond of geraniums, but I did pick up a couple pots of trailing geraniums this summer. They have somewhat dainty dark red flowers and gorgeous thick, light green leaves. I want to keep them for next year and I'm running out of room in my house to keep them in the containers they sat in on my porch.
Thanks to the info here, I can put these away along with my dahlia and four o'clock tubers!

here I bring them inside and put them in south facing windows and keep them going over the winter. One plant is on its fourth year. They sulk and drop leaves when first brought in but they seem to adjust and keep growing and doing well. They flowered nearly all winter last year. I think the trick is a real south facing window that gets lots of light. I cut them back before putting them out in the summer to keep them in some kind of reasonable shape.

What I have done for the past many years is:
1. In the fall before a heavy frost, I pull up the entire plant and shake off any loose soil
2. I then trim any long roots with no small fibrous roots coming from them.
3. Then I trim the tops to about 3 inches. I keep the tops for cuttings.
4. These are potted up in new potting soil, watered well, and I let them drain well also.
5. Then I take them indoors to the basement and place under florescent lamps.
6. I don't water them again until I see new growth, and then I water every three days or so.

I usually have a mass of blooming by Christmas. Any long growths can be trimmed back and used for even more cuttings. Some of my plant are 4 years old. I still have some from my dad's plant which I inherited after his demise in the 1980's. Whenever I see my double whites, I think of him.

My mom is lucky to have a green house, she just takes all her geraniums (which are several years old now) and takes them there. They slow their growth adn loose some leaves, but they occassionally bloom. Come spring, she takes them out again and they take off. They are gigantic. I have taken cuttings of her geraniums last winter and am now overwintering them in my room by a sunny window. I'm thinking of "adquiring" new cuttings before I go back home after the holidays.

Realize this is late, just discovered this forum. If you tried and failed in keeping your generic geraniums by pulling up and drying as mentioned in above comments, it's perhaps because they were seed geraniums, and they just won't carry over by drying and storing.