title: Adjusting Text background transparency
body: <p>I'm trying to put some text with a background on a matplotlib figure, with the text and background both transparent.  The following code</p>
  
  <pre><code>import numpy as np
  import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
  plt.figure()
  ax = plt.subplot(111)
  plt.plot(np.linspace(1,0,1000))
  t = plt.text(0.03,.95,'text',transform=ax.transAxes,backgroundcolor='0.75',alpha=.5)
  plt.show()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>makes the text semi-transparent relative to the text's background, but the background isn't at all transparent relative to the line it obscures in the figure.</p>
  
  <pre><code>t.figure.set_alpha(.5)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and</p>
  
  <pre><code>t.figure.patch.set_alpha(.5)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>also don't do the trick.</p>