Why would you pinch them off? I would leave the buds on, enjoy the flowers and THEN trim off the seed capsules. This will put energy back into plant AND you got to enjoy the flowers.

How nice of your plants to bud the first year! I have a couple that haven't bloomed yet, several years in the ground. I grow TP's for flowers, want every second to enjoy the flowers they produce.

To answer goodhors, the reason to pinch off the new buds is that blooms take energy from the plant that could be used to develop the root system.

That said, I would leave the buds on but cut off immediately after flowering. The energy for the flowers is from last years growth. If your plants were spindly or very small when you planted you might want to take all or all but one off. Many peonies, tree and other, have non-typical blooms the first year or so after planting.

Thaks for your reply. I have had buds on my tps for the last two years but never the flowers. There was that late frost last year and I couldn't tell if I lost the flowers to the frost or some other reason. Hopefully I'll finally get the flowers this year.

I do have a tp just planted that's very small and spindly. I was surprised to a flower bud. Its flower bud is very close to the leaves. Do I just sort of squash the bud so I don't damage the leaves in the process of removing the flower bud?

If the bud is that close to the leaves don't touch until you can easily pinch or cut out with small shears. If it is that close to the leaves removing may damage the leaves and it probably will not continue to develop.