Many tree peonies are actually grafted. They use herbacious peony to root the tree peony. It seems like 'Early Scout' is one root stock often used in commerce as a graft. So if you have something else coming from your tree peony that looks different, it often means your tree peony is not planted deep enough and the grafted rootstock is coming up instead of or in addition to your tree peony. This information came to me via peony convention in WI a few years ago. It seems like it speeds up the blooming process.
