Espalier in the early spring

After weed whacking the yard with my string trimmer in preparation for the first lawn mowing of the season, I moved into a second garden task which was spraying the fruit tree espalier with copper oil to prevent diseases.  It was a little late for copper spray, as it should have been done a couple of weeks ago, but I did get to it today.
This espalier, created 12 years ago consists of 9 apple trees and 6 pear trees (3 European pears, 3 Asian pears).  The apples do very well, the pears not so much as the climate does not favor them here.  In fact we have been talking about replacing the pear trees with apples.  We will see.  This espalier is shaped in the losange variation of the Belgian Fence pattern.  The basic idea is to criss-cross branches of the trees and to keep them within a defined width.  Each year in winter I cut back the espalier, especially at the top and on each side to keep it in a defined space.

This espalier runs east-west(see hint of Pacific Ocean in the background of the pic on the left).

One of the trees is already in bloom but there aren't many pollinators out yet.  I may do the brush technique later this week to assist pollination.  Here is a pic of the flower. Click to enlarge.

apple blossom (Anna apple)