Hogweed starts to show just after the Anthriscus sylvestris (Cow Parsley) has finished and the main crop is in summer. It does persist until the first significant frosts though. This year (2004) in Cheshire we have had a couple of cold mornings with ice on windscreens and two light ground frosts neither of which is putting of the Heracleum sphondylium. This photo was taken in November but there are still plants in healthy full flower (not just hanging on) in December. This is one of the successful roadside herbs and can compete with the luxuriant nettles, docks and thistles as they gobble up the run-off from fields saturated with nitrates and phosphates.
Field in Alvanley 30th November 2004
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Added on December 16th 2004