When plotting the polar demo, I am not getting radial grids on the trunk (but I am getting them on the branch). Any ideas? import matplotlib import numpy as np from matplotlib.pyplot import figure, show, rc, grid # radar green, solid grid lines rc('grid', color='#316931', linewidth=1, linestyle='-') rc('xtick', labelsize=15) rc('ytick', labelsize=15) # force square figure and square axes looks better for polar, IMO width, height = matplotlib.rcParams['figure.figsize'] size = min(width, height) # make a square figure fig = figure(figsize=(size, size)) ax = fig.add_axes([0.1, 0.1, 0.8, 0.8], polar=True, axisbg='#d5de9c') r = np.arange(0, 3.0, 0.01) theta = 2*np.pi*r ax.plot(theta, r, color='#ee8d18', lw=3) ax.set_rmax(2.0) ax.set_rgrids(np.arange(0.5, 2.0, 0.5)) ax.grid(True) ax.set_title("And there was much rejoicing!", fontsize=20) show()