Thanks Liz...unless I hear otherwise...I will assume that.

I don't have much experience either. But if it was mine, I would definitely plant it 4 inches deeper, bury and cover those buds near the soil level especially.

I agree with Liz. But I would bury it up past the split. You are going to have other scions that will emerge from the ground around the double scion that already exists. Ultimately you will lose the double look anyway.

Yeah, all of the eyes on the main branches will eventually be branches, too--probably pretty quickly, like this spring. I think your tree will probably be one of the shrubby looking trees which I think is excellent--more branches, more flowers!

I actually found a blog of someone with a 22yr. Old twin trunk peony tree. And asked him about it. I'm thinking I need to let those branches come up and let it photosynthesize a few years...then after bloom cut them back to the trunk. Keeping the twin trunk that I desired. Though...time and blooms may change my way of thinking. At this point...I think I still want that twin trunk. But...Depends on how quickly I can form a canopy on the two trunks to produce flowers. Flowers may win out...though they are short lived. So structure of the tree also plays a favor. (I also do bonsai...so the structure of it may win out...only time will tell)

The response I got from the blogger:

"Yes, you can absolutely keep it with two trunks. As the plant matures, it will send up more new growth from the roots. You can either keep these and allow the plant to become a full multi-stemmed shrub, its natural habit, or thin them out if you like the way it looks with just two main trunks. Next year’s buds form on this year’s new growth, so you should not cut back any of this. Tree peonies don’t require much pruning, especially when young, because they are slow growing plants, let it photosynthesize as much as possible for the first few years. Let me know if you have any other questions. Best- Dan"

It depends how old are the two main trunks. Someday down the road, these trunks will need to be pruned down to rejuvenate the tree. As the trunks grow too old, they will have difficulty supplying food to new growths. As a result, flower production and new growths off the old trunks will suffer.

Thanks for all the advice given to this post. As you can see...it made it to the ground. So glad I found something that will work for the area. And not grow to block my house number. :)