diff --git a/requake/plot/plot_slip.py b/requake/plot/plot_slip.py
index 91d3dfb..fc3da5f 100644
--- a/requake/plot/plot_slip.py
+++ b/requake/plot/plot_slip.py
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ def plot_slip(config):
     ax.set_ylabel('Cumulative Slip (cm)')
     sm = cm.ScalarMappable(cmap=cmap, norm=norm)
     cbar = fig.colorbar(sm, ticks=range(10), ax=ax)
+    cbar.ax.set_zorder(-1)
     cbar.ax.set_ylabel('mod(family number, 10)')
 
     # Empty annotation that will be updated interactively
diff --git a/requake/plot/plot_timespans.py b/requake/plot/plot_timespans.py
index 1e85967..8e07aaa 100644
--- a/requake/plot/plot_timespans.py
+++ b/requake/plot/plot_timespans.py
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ def plot_timespans(config):
     ax.set_ylabel(ylabel)
     sm = cm.ScalarMappable(cmap=cmap, norm=norm)
     cbar = fig.colorbar(sm, ticks=range(10), ax=ax)
+    cbar.ax.set_zorder(-1)
     cbar.ax.set_ylabel('mod(family number, 10)')
 
     # Empty annotation that will be updated interactively