Thanks, Fata, I was afraid of that. Unfortunately, my apartment gets even less light than the office, which is why I've become the workplace "plant lady". The modest windowsill garden features about a dozen varieties of foliage plants ranging from Aloe vera to Zebrina, and several (mostly annual) herbs. The total herb yield is less than what you can buy at the grocery for a dollar, but this nature-starved urban child gets a kick out of pretending to be a farmer and tasting at least a little leafy green stuff that's still alive. Ah, well, the lavender is still nice to look at and smell, even if I won't ever be able to make lavender wands for the linen closet.

I my own self am clueless as usual. but they look like beautiful oldies, so you might check the Historic Iris Preservation Society's photo page.

Thanks for the responses! Now that it's started to grow, I can tell it's definitely lavender! It's a little scraggly but a nice big plant.

We have an older, somewhat weird Italian sink with an integral faucet that is positioned very close to the back. I took some measurements -- and your idea of only needing about 3" at the back should be doable. Our sink is 14" front to back, but the faucet spout only sticks over the basin a little ways. I laid a measuring tape along the back-to-front diameter and turned on the water. The water hits the tape at the 3" mark. Now, this sink is deeper than your trough sink and it's also shaped differently in that it's deepest at the back end (7") and then slopes up toward the front. But still, our hands don't bump into the back of the sink when we use it. Hope this helps.