Fruitnut makes a good point. I'm guessing you are at high altitude as well which would make the "sunburn" issue worse I'd guess. Less atmospheric filter. Probably best to wait until late Aug. Here in southeastern NY I do plenty of summer pruning- usually just mopping out water sprouts, but I do a lot of full structurual pruning at some sites as well- especially on old apple trees which are tough enough to prune most any time. I actually see less sunburn on mid to late summer pruned apple trees than on dormant pruned ones and prefer to begin major renovation projects at that time.

I just went to a lecture on pruning given by a botanist and expert plantsman. He made some specific remarks on Birch trees. Birches are one of the very worst trees for pruning, because they do not heal well from the wounds. According to this botanist, the latest and greatest science on pruning says you actually want to prune your Birch when they are actively growing and not dormant, even if they "bleed", because the bleeding is a healing response by the tree. Pruning when dormant means the cut takes longer to heal. However, because of the Birch weakness where healing is concerned, you want to avoid pruning them at all (except for dead wood, or course) if possible. Try to keep cuts to an absolute minimum. Trees need a good amount of energy to heal from cuts, so you weaken them somewhat when you do cut. Incidentally the tree that handles pruning better than any other is the Apple tree. Scientific experiments show that the healing for Apple trees is almost instantaneous. This is why commercial Apple orchards can be productive for at least 100 years, because the Apple can heal itself so easily. In contrast, Peach trees are nearly as weak as Birch trees, and the typical commercial Peach orchard lasts only 12-15 years. The guy gave a great talk.

Nice photos! Looks like you lucked out with some healthy trees. I have an English Brown Turkey from Burnt Ridge. I got it last year and it produced one very late fig which tasted good. The same tree produced about 12 figs this year with the quality exponentially better. Only the figs are medium size and not large like the catalogue describes. You're right about Desert King producing brebas but your trees are still very young and therefore fruit production on the Desert King is just delayed this first season. Hopefully you'll get some ripe fruits before the end of the season and if so, don't be surprized if they are smaller than expected size for Desert King and the flavor, suboptimal. You have to give these immature trees two or three seasons to start producing quality fruit. I have a Violette Sollies which is two years old and produced two figs this season. One ripened two weeks ago and the other one is just now swelling. The first fig was medium size and tasted pretty good for being relatively immature. I know for a fact that next season, it will be even better! You did well by ordering from Burnt Ridge. They rank with places like Paradise Nursery.

Perle's scent is very light. Her apricot blooms fade more quickly in sun, but they are charming either way. Perle is quite thorny and grows into a substantial bush. In its shadier location, my Perle can easily top 6 feet even when pruned regularly. Her buds are like tiny high centered Hybrid Tea buds. She is very healthy. Like Marie, Perle blooms late spring through fall. Something else to note about Marie Pavie: she's thornless. Carol