The most recent came last week, when an incoming Virginia Tech freshman who was doing landscaping work in Spotsylvania County was hospitalized with third-degree burns. “It likes cool weather, and we think that’s why it has suddenly popped up,” said Elaine Lidholm, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. “And with the long, wet spring, it’s like, ‘Finally, our happy place,’ and it’s popping up in places where people didn’t know they had it.”Scientists at Virginia Tech had a similar take. So far, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has confirmed three sightings this summer, one each in Clarke, Fauquier and Rockingham counties. State officials ask that anyone who believes they have found giant hogweed contact either the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services or the Virginia Cooperative Extension.