Honeybees are an important component of agricultural production in the central United States. In Iowa each year, over 85,000 bee colonies produce over 4 million dollars worth of honey. Moreover, it is estimated that honeybees' pollination services are worth 25  times the value of the honey produced annually. Economic success for many fruit, vegetable, and forage crops depends on effective bee pollination. As effort increases to diversify our agricultural base and improve the stability of the farm economy, the need for bees will likely increase. But the expansion of urbanization and increasing acreage in row crop production have reduced the extent of high quality bee pasture. Responding to this problem, progressive beekeepers recommend the establishment of special plantings to provide bees with useful forage throughout flight season. Unfortunately, many plants introduced for use as bee pasture have proven to be noxious weeds while our native nectar sources have not undergone systematic evaluation. Native, prairie mints in the genera Agastache, Monarda, Pycnanthemum, and Salvia have been used for honey production with some success. This report discusses the design and implementation of an initial screening of approximately 50 collections of native mints for their suitability as perennial bee 

pasture.