Could it be sidebuds? The major one is faded and sidebuds are deeper color?

I never heard of sidebuds. The original never had this occur, as you see in the top photo there is one single bloom on each stem..

Plenty of lactiflora peonies have sidebuds and some people cut them off once they are visible to make major flowers ones bigger. May be your mother did it or may be peony likes your soil so much so it produces a lot of sidebuds...

Hmmm - maybe. This root was planted in richer soil and perhaps gets a bit more sun. There have been no side buds for the past 25 years the originals have been in my gardens. Thank you.

I did some research and discovered this hybrid lactiflora, Dai Jo Kuhan, was bred by Millet & Son (France - possibly 1938). I have always loved this plant for it's late spring/early summer, magenta, fragrant blooms. It only gets about 30 inches and never flops. In an on line description it indicates 4-6 blooms per cluster! Maybe, I will put more divisions into this richer soil! Thank you.