Picture of the one with the greener, but some spotted leaves. Thank you for any help in advance!!

Thanks, Embothrium. So you think I should plant both now or would it be better to wait until fall? I was brainstorming with my dad, and he said watering twice a day might be too much, especially since they've bloomed already this year. So much to learn.

Get them in the ground now so they are liberated from the danged pots, in position as soon as they start extending their roots. When there was a peony field growing operation near me here in western USDA 8 they used to lift and divide the herbaceous peonies some comparatively early time like August or September, as they had already matured their winter crown buds by then. (Their tops were still green and would get clipped off, apparently without ill effect as the plants seemed to be basically just waiting for winter by that point).

I'd think the twice a day watering is too much, your dad is right! If you decide to plant them out now just give them some temporary shade for a few weeks, they'll recover just fine and will return next spring. Itohs are a hybrid between tree and herbaceous, if you're in a warmer zone you can sometimes get new growth from the buds that form low on this year's growth the following spring, like a tree peony. If you're in a colder zone those leaf buds won't survive the winter so you can just cut them back like herbaceous peonies in the fall. If you're not sure it won't hurt to cut them back to 6 or 8" instead of to the ground and see what they do next spring....

Watering twice a day is too much. Once a day at the most. They look sunburned in which case, that is just how they are going to look until they get cut back. Best to plant in the fall (after Labor Day, or when you notice more leaves turning brown and the plant looks ragged). Cut back to about one inch above ground, wash the roots off, and then plant. If they are the Monrovia plants or 3 or 5 gallon plants, you might be able to divide the crown into 2 plants if it is large. Good luck. Itohs are hearty plants. The heat we have experienced this summer will make the plant go dormant even earlier than normal. And cause sunburn.

Leaving them in the pots for additional months means they will be subjected to whatever adversities are thereby involved, including possible deterioration of the potting medium and difficulties with keeping the pots watered during hot weather - the tops are probably burned right now because the watering of the pots was not kept up with at the retail outlet.

Also if the roots start to elongate markedly while they are still sitting in pots waiting to be planted then there will be additional crowding of the roots. And the chance to have these elongating roots push out into the soil of the planting site to a significant degree before winter may be missed.

This is why I mentioned how early the herbaceous peonies at the nursery down the hill here were in effect done for the year each time.

Not only will those roots elongate but when they hit the surface of the pot they will start turning especially it the pot heated by the air surrounding it. Left in the pot too long they can circle the pot making it almost impossible for a plant to survive. Embothrium is correct about growers starting to dig in August. If you have noticed some will state they start shipping at the start of September. This allows their more northern customers to be able to plant without digging in frozen ground or keeping the roots in pots or using other methods.

Here in the south, the peonies are done now. When I say plant it in the fall, I dig my own by the end of August which is less than one month away. No one said leave it in the pot forever, just another month. I don't think any significant root growth occurs until the weather cools down, and the plant above ground goes dormant. If you have ever dug an itoh from the ground, not a pot, the roots will be a tangled mess prior to dividing, just like they are in a pot. Planting now in the south in this record heat could kill or seriously set the plant back as far as development and take longer to get to bloom.

Your Peonies suffer from being in pots for too long. Definitely plant them in the soil asap.

After removing them from the pots, before planting, examine the root ball carefully. Are the roots circling around the pot walls? If so, remove the circling roots.

Even worse, are the plants root bound? https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=root+bound&FORM=HDRSC2 To what degree? If so, open the root ball. Don't be afraid of pruning the roots as much as necessary (but not more than that :-) ).

Dig the hole to accommodate the plant roots and fill it with water. After the water has drained plant your Peonies. Water again during and after planting. Create some shade for the newly planted Peonies by, for example, stretching a piece of burlap on top of few sticks you pushed in the soil.

Water again after two days. Reduce the frequency of watering gradually. Peonies don't like to be flooded!

Enjoy your beautiful Itohs next spring!

Probably these have a big annual push of roots each time the shoots have stopped elongating and overwintering buds have matured. This is typical of other kinds of cold climate adapted woody plants. And herbaceous peonies set winter buds, just as if they were shrubby - but these are located at the root crown level, instead of on the ends of woody stems. So it's possible your new peonies are in this annual big time root growing stage right now, with you waiting a month to plant them then resulting in missing this window.

This is what an itoh root mass looks like before division, in nature or a pot. One or two months will not hurt the development.

They are naturally curved and/or elongated.

One or two months will not hurt the development

Apart from any other possible considerations I'd want to get them out of the pots just so they weren't prone to having the sun bake the roots.

Or simply get the pots out of the sun. Wait until the plants go dormant to plant.