They can certainly survive as a bonsai....just not indoors under normal indoor condtions. Too dry, too warm and not nearly enough light. Most fully indoor bonsai plants are tropicals. Hardy bonsais need to be outside except for some winter protection. It is just the same as if you tried to grow a living Christmas tree indoors. Just a few weeks at most is all that is tolerated and most sources suggest a week or less.

I'm sorry to tell you that your plant is not gonna 'perk up'....it is dead or well on its way to being so :-(

Is there any chance that transplanting it outside would help it, now that it's warm outside?

Also, is there anything I could have done after I got the bonsai at Christmas to save it? Putting it outdoors in January after it was used to being inside certainly would have shocked and killed it, right?

You can try putting it outside but I doubt you are going to see significant improvement if you see anything at all. The tree is more dead than alive and once it has that discoloration and dry appearance, it is usually too far gone to revive.

To keep a bonsai like this overwinter, it needs a bright but very cool location...somewhere the temperatures would not exceed 45F but also not drop much below freezing. The juniper itself will tolerate freezing weather perfecty well. It is just the soil and therefore the rootball that is at risk of freezing.

Natalie, judging by the stretched appearance of your seedlings, there is not enough light in that window for juniper or seedlings.

We really can't offer advice about what to do about your plant because there is no way to know if it had been properly prepared as a bonsai or what condition the roots are in. I tend to agree that it's a goner.

However, once a juniper's needles have browned off like that, it's not a good sign.....especially one that has been languishing inside on a window sill. Junipers, no matter how they are being grown, are outdoor plants. They take very, very well to proper bonsai culture, but must still be cared for first and foremost like a juniper.

i also wonder about how you watered it ....

trees.. like a sip of water.. full drainage.. and near drying.. before watering again ...

i wonder if you might have loved it too much.. and gave it water.. every time you water the seedlings ...

the brown doesnt bother me.. as much as the rest of it being so off color .... i also suspect its gone ...

ken

Trees grown in containers - bonsai or not - don't want just a 'sip' of water. They should be fully flushed with water so that the entire soil mass surrounding them is thoroughly hydrated and then the soil allowed to almost dry before watering again.