Background color of plot:

ax = df.plot(kind='scatter', x='axis_X', y='axis_Y', color='white', alpha=0.5, linewidth=0)
ax.set_axis_bgcolor("lightslategray")
					

Background color of figure:

fig.savefig("output.pdf", facecolor=fig.get_facecolor(), transparent=True)
					

When initializing:

ax = df.plot(kind='scatter', x='axis_X', y='axis_Y', color='white', alpha=0.5, linewidth=0)
					

Or, after initializing:

ax.set_xlabel('X-axis')
ax.set_ylabel('Y-axis')
					

When initializing:

ax.spines['bottom'].set_color('red')
ax.spines['top'].set_color('red')
ax.xaxis.label.set_color('red')
ax.tick_params(axis='x', colors='red')
					

Source at stackoverflow!

ax = df.plot(...)

ax.tick_params(axis='x',which='minor',bottom='off')

plt.axes().yaxis.set_tick_params(which='minor', right = 'off')

ax.set_xticks( xtick, minor=True )
ax.grid('on', which='minor', axis='x' )
ax.grid('off', which='major', axis='x' )

ax.xaxis.grid(True, which='minor', linestyle='-', linewidth=0.25, ...)

ax.tick_params(axis='x',which='minor',bottom='off')
					

Source at stackoverflow!
Source 2 at stackoverflow!
Source 3 at stackoverflow!

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from math import sqrt


# evenly sampled time at 200ms intervals
t = np.arange(0., 5., 0.2)

# red dashes, blue squares and green triangles
plt.plot(t, t, 'r', t, t**2, 'b--', t, t**3, 'g^')
plt.show()