I have a question, but before I ask it I must inform you that your answers will not be counted unless you answer yes to two qualifying questions. Got that? The first qualifying question is, have you had a valid drivers license for at least 20 years? The other is, do you wash your car on regular intervals?

The question is, were there more insects splattered on your windshield when you first started driving than there are now? Insects, ugh, you know those creepy little things that bite, sting or chew the plants in the garden.

To set the record straight, insects get a bad rap. Of the millions of different insects found throughout the world, less than one percent fit the category of creepy little things that bite, sting or chew the plants in our garden.

Most are rather benign and generally unseen. Many survive by eating other insects. Usually there is an insect, or many insects, that eat most of the insect pests that appear in our gardens. The challenge is to find the proper balance to let nature minimize our problems.

Insects play a dominant role in the decomposition of organic material whether it is plant or animal material. Many provide important pollination services vital to our food supply. Some, like butterflies are cherished for their beauty, but that's gist for future words.

About 90 percent of plant feeding insects are very specific about what they eat. The reason is that plants really don't like being eaten and to protect themselves produce poisons to ward off attacks. In a few plants, the poison levels can be toxic to humans.

What has happened over lots and lots of years is that insects have developed defenses against the poisons of one or a small group of plants. Different insects have different tolerances so they have different diets or targeted plants.

Maybe 10 percent are generalists. They will eat a wide variety of plants. Japanese beetles quickly come to mind. Perhaps their address suggests that they have few natural predators here, which magnifies the problems they create.

The Norway maple was introduced to this country from Europe with the first colonists and as of yet it has no specific insect pests. Lots and lots of years is really a lot more than lots and lots of years.

If you check the lists of invasive plants you will find Norway maple on most of them. It is not too hard to find them in our woodlands today. It might be too easy in another 25 or 50 years.

There is a field of research that wants to quantify the poisons that a plant produces and derive a way to enhance their concentration to fend off insect problems.

There is another and perhaps a more nature friendly approach to insect problems which needs to be explored.

Since the first question was very easy I give you another. Can we create gardens that welcome some of those predator insects that will eat the bad guys? While you ponder those questions I will close with another.

Can you best limit pest damage in your garden by avoiding planting those plants that the garden centers claim to be pest free?