Geranium question - novice gardener!

[SWnewstart]

We've had a lovely display of geraniums in pots all summer and some are still going strong. I know they should be protected from frost (will be brought into unheated conservatory over winter) and there have been a couple of quite chilly nights recently. Some of the plant leaves are turning pink / red - is this a sign of cold damage? Or just a "dying down" process? The geraniums are otherwise healthy.

Geraniums or pelargoniums?
Geraniums are hardy and will die back over winter but regrow in the spring. Pelargoniums are tender and need cover over winter so need to be protected from frost.

Whereabouts are you? I am in London and I never bring mine in. I might lose one or two but they are dirt cheap to restock and I find looking after plants indoors really faffy. They bring in bugs, the leaves shrivel alarmingly, they take up space and look untidy. I only put really special tender things in my (plastic) greenhouse, I give them a bit of water when I remember and they seem to survive.

If you live north of Watford though, you might need advice from a more caring gardener.

Geraniums (plants in the genus Geranium) are usually planted in the soil and have flowers in blues, pinks, purples, and white. Pelargoniums, colloquially called geraniums although they're actually in the genus Pelargonium, are closely related, but aren't hardy, and have much brighter coloured flowers - red or bright pink. and scented leaves - except for the "scented leaved Pelargoniums" which tend to have paler pink flowers but the leaves are scented, not of Pelargonium, but of orange, lemon, rose, pine, eucalyptus etc.

Both Pelargoniums and Geraniums have the capacity to produce bright red leaves. It's a response to conditions but it's not damage, so don't worry about it.

Pelargoniums may be able to be wintered outside in London, with the warming effect of being in a city, but in the rest of the country they will die in the first decent frost.

Thank you for all the comments - I now realise I have a mixture of geraniums and pelagoniums. Feel reassured that leaves turning pink / red is not a sign of dying off, in fact on closer inspection, there are some new shooting leaves which are this colour from the start. Will experiment and bring some inside, leave others out and cover some outside to protect.

My mother would bring hers into the house and would have up to five in a row on a warm windowsill.From what I remember alot would last up to five years or more with no soil change whatsoever just the occasional watering. Alot would reach up to two feet but get very leggy.I can't do that my wife won't let me so I find a warm corner at the front of the house and if not too cold a winter make it till next year,but that's in surrey.

It's quite easy to propagate perlagoniums from cuttings - either in soil or water - which is one way to keep/increase your stock over winter without taking too much space. I've got a scented perlagonium (several plants at any time) that started from one I bought on holiday before my DD was born ... she's 21 now.

I bring my perlagoniums into the unheated greenhouse. I remove then from their pots, check the roots for vine weevil, trim them down and plant them together in large pots.
Throughout the winter I check for rot and just keep them damp.

These are mine, they've been a glorious mix of red, white and pink this summer, they are looking neglected now but new growth still appearing. I'm leaving them out for now (I'm also in the SE) as they are off the ground and sheltered, but in a couple of weeks I will cut them right back and put them in an unheated greenhouse, making sure they aren't touching the glass. Might put fleece over them if there's a proper cold snap.

I leave mine in pots, in the unheated porch/conservatory, and they flower all through winter. They are on the windowsill of the larder (on the porch side not the larder side) so there will be some heat leakage from inside, but we're in a frost hollow in Yorkshire.

I can only remember once when the entire porch was below freezing during the day - unfortunately I unthinkingly washed the floor, turning the whole thing into a skid pan.