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My partner bought be a beautiful bonsai, only 1 year old so that we can care for it together in many coming years. Shortly after we went on a long anticipated trip and I left the bonsai in the care of my mother. She said that shortly before our return (we were away for a month) it changed from bright green to a pale, brownish green with a blue tinge. The needles now fall off easily when you touch them and the whole tree seems a bit crispy.. My mother lives in Clare in South Australia and summer has been quite warm. She said she tried leaving it under the verandah outside and also moving it inside a few times, and put some moss in the pot to prevent too much water from evaporating from the soil. She had been watering it with rain water from a spray bottle daily. It is now looking very sad and I am worried that it is beyond repair. I have had some trouble identifying the tree and so am not sure if the exact care instructions, however was given a rough guide when I received it. Please help me save my beloved bonsai! I have attached a photo of the bonsai now and when it was healthy.

It is a juniper. It is unfortunately, if the color is true to reality, dead. Dried out. Probably the plant dried out a lot, and was then kept too wet, resulting in effectively the roots just rotting away. Normally, once junpers look like that, there is no returning.

Note that on this forum the plant you were showing would not be considered a bonsai, but rather a shrub in a pot.

looks like a procumbens juniper.. a dying one..

too bad..

caring for a bonsai and keeping it alive is a lot harder than people think..

Cronic wrote: caring for a bonsai and keeping it alive is a lot harder than people think..

I wouldn't really say that it's much harder, just a lot more specialised; every plant needs unique care.
Unless people think that it's really easy to care for bonsai...

Ed

So we have a Brown Juniper...

don't bring junipers inside, or put them under the "varanda", they need sunshine. Just keep doing what you did, before you dropped it off with Mom, maybe it will recover. Junipers like it on the dry side. Leaving it alone a week probably wouldn't have hurt it.