BUG: subplots with layout kw may show unnecessary warning

doc/source/whatsnew/v0.16.0.txt

@@ -237,6 +237,7 @@ Bug Fixes
 
 
 - Bug in boxplot, scatter and hexbin plot may show an unnecessary warning (:issue:`8877`)
+- Bug in subplot with ``layout`` kw may show unnecessary warning (:issue:`9464`)
 
 
 

pandas/tests/test_graphics.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import itertools
 import os
 import string
+import warnings
 from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 
 from datetime import datetime, date
@@ -1245,6 +1246,7 @@ def test_subplots_timeseries(self):
                 self._check_visible(ax.get_yticklabels())
                 self._check_ticks_props(ax, xlabelsize=7, xrot=45, ylabelsize=7)
 
+    @slow
     def test_subplots_layout(self):
         # GH 6667
         df = DataFrame(np.random.rand(10, 3),
@@ -1290,6 +1292,21 @@ def test_subplots_layout(self):
         self._check_axes_shape(axes, axes_num=1, layout=(3, 3))
         self.assertEqual(axes.shape, (3, 3))
 
+    @slow
+    def test_subplots_warnings(self):
+        # GH 9464
+        warnings.simplefilter('error')
+        try:
+            df = DataFrame(np.random.randn(100, 4))
+            df.plot(subplots=True, layout=(3, 2))
+
+            df = DataFrame(np.random.randn(100, 4),
+                           index=date_range('1/1/2000', periods=100))
+            df.plot(subplots=True, layout=(3, 2))
+        except Warning as w:
+            self.fail(w)
+        warnings.simplefilter('default')
+
     @slow
     def test_subplots_multiple_axes(self):
         # GH 5353, 6970, GH 7069

pandas/tools/plotting.py

@@ -1126,7 +1126,8 @@ def _make_legend(self):
 
         elif self.subplots and self.legend:
             for ax in self.axes:
-                ax.legend(loc='best')
+                if ax.get_visible():
+                    ax.legend(loc='best')
 
     def _get_ax_legend(self, ax):
         leg = ax.get_legend()