how to make map lines visible over data in cartopy?

Question

I am trying to make map lines always on top of data, but cannot find the right command/options to do so in cartopy. In the plot below, I want the thick blue line "under" the black state lines but on top of the beige states.

Code:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import cartopy.crs as ccrs
import cartopy.feature as cfeature
import os,sys

conus_proj = ccrs.LambertConformal(central_longitude=-96,central_latitude=39.0)
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10,8))
ax = fig.add_subplot(1,1,1,projection=conus_proj)
ax.set_extent([-120,-70,22,50])
#ax.add_feature(cfeature.BORDERS)
ax.add_feature(cfeature.COASTLINE)
ax.add_feature(cfeature.OCEAN, facecolor='#CCFEFF')
ax.add_feature(cfeature.LAKES, facecolor='#CCFEFF')
ax.add_feature(cfeature.RIVERS, facecolor='#CCFEFF')
ax.add_feature(cfeature.LAND, facecolor='#FFE9B5')
state_borders = cfeature.NaturalEarthFeature(category='cultural', name='admin_1_states_provinces_lakes', scale='50m', facecolor='#FFE9B5')
ax.add_feature(state_borders, edgecolor='black')

plt.plot([-120,-70],[35,45],linewidth=8, transform=ccrs.PlateCarree())
plt.show()

I have tried changing the zorder of ax.add_feature(state_borders...) and plt.plot(...) but have received weird results. The state borders are on top by default with pcolormesh , but don't appear to be so with plt.plot

Here is the output of the above code:

Answer 1

The reason things turn out differently for pcolormesh vs. plot is that those have different default zorders. If I set the zorder for the state borders (note below that I use Cartopy's built-in support for states) to 10, I get them to appear on top of the plot:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import cartopy.crs as ccrs
import cartopy.feature as cfeature
import os,sys

conus_proj = ccrs.LambertConformal(central_longitude=-96,central_latitude=39.0)
fig = plt.figure(figsize=(10,8))
ax = fig.add_subplot(1,1,1,projection=conus_proj)
ax.set_extent([-120,-70,22,50])

ax.add_feature(cfeature.COASTLINE)
ax.add_feature(cfeature.OCEAN, facecolor='#CCFEFF')
ax.add_feature(cfeature.LAKES, facecolor='#CCFEFF')
ax.add_feature(cfeature.RIVERS, edgecolor='#CCFEFF')
ax.add_feature(cfeature.LAND, facecolor='#FFE9B5')
ax.add_feature(cfeature.STATES, edgecolor='black', zorder=10)

plt.plot([-120,-70],[35,45],linewidth=8, transform=ccrs.PlateCarree())
plt.show()

I also had to remove the face colors on some of the features.