 Forests cover 65 % of the state , primarily with deciduous , broad leaf trees in the western part of the state and evergeens and conifers dominant the central and eastern part of Virginia . Lower altitudes are more likely to have small but dense stands of moisture @-@ loving hemlocks and mosses in abundance , with hickory and oak in the Blue Ridge . However , since the early 1990s , Gypsy moth infestations have eroded the dominance of oak forests . In the lowland tidewater and piedmont , yellow pines tend to dominate , with bald cypress wetland forests in the Great Dismal and Nottoway swamps . Other common trees and plants include red bay , wax myrtle , dwarf palmetto , tulip poplar , mountain laurel , milkweed , daisies , and many species of ferns . The largest areas of wilderness are along the Atlantic coast and in the western mountains , where the largest populations of trillium wildflowers in North America are found . The Atlantic coast regions are host to flora commonly associated with the South Atlantic pine forests and lower Southeast Coastal Plain maritime flora , the latter found primarily in eastern and central Virginia . 
