I received the nicest note from a very creative company:

Greetings and Happy New Year Karen,

We received an issue of Wisconsin Gardening this morning and noticed the article relating to making a great first impression. We are Creative Mailbox Planters based out  of Mid-Missouri and we have recently received a patent for our solution to the drab #1 selling standard mailbox in America. We thought you might like to take a peek and please let us know your thoughts. Have a very good day!

Cheers to Gardening. . . .anxious for spring!!!

Best regards,

Teresa & Mark D. White

http://www.creativemailboxplanters.com

Well, I just had to check them out. Their solution is not only made in the U.S.A., it is affordable, well built, and gives you room to be creative and really celebrate the seasons. They have so many more pictures with interesting approaches, but here are just a few of them: