diff --git a/API.md b/API.md
index edf77b48..2e536da9 100644
--- a/API.md
+++ b/API.md
@@ -269,17 +269,15 @@ numbers. Use "time" for time series data; see the time series data
 section. The time plugin (jquery.flot.time.js) is required for time
 series support.
 
-The "color" option determines the color of the labels and ticks for
-the axis (default is the grid color). For more fine-grained control
-you can also set the color of the ticks separately with "tickColor"
-(otherwise it's autogenerated as the base color with some
-transparency).
-
-You can customize the font used to draw the labels with CSS or directly via the
-"font" option. When "font" is null - the default - each tick label is given the
-'flot-tick-label' class. For compatibility with Flot 0.7 and earlier the labels
-are also given the 'tickLabel' class, but this is deprecated and scheduled to
-be removed with the release of version 1.0.0.
+The "color" option determines the color of the line and ticks for the axis, and
+defaults to the grid color with transparency. For more fine-grained control you
+can also set the color of the ticks separately with "tickColor".
+
+You can customize the font and color used to draw the axis tick labels with CSS
+or directly via the "font" option. When "font" is null - the default - each
+tick label is given the 'flot-tick-label' class. For compatibility with Flot
+0.7 and earlier the labels are also given the 'tickLabel' class, but this is
+deprecated and scheduled to be removed with the release of version 1.0.0.
 
 To enable more granular control over styles, labels are divided between a set
 of text containers, with each holding the labels for one axis. These containers
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index dd85d716..ecb1eaa4 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ The text containers  for each axis now use the classes 'flot-[x|y]-axis' and
 with Flot 0.7 and earlier text will continue to use the old classes as well,
 but they are considered deprecated and will be removed in a future version.
 
+In previous versions the axis 'color' option was used to set the color of tick
+marks and their label text. It now controls the color of the axis line, which
+previously could not be changed separately, and continues to act as a default
+for the tick-mark color.  The color of tick label text is now set either by
+overriding the 'flot-tick-label' CSS rule or via the axis 'font' option.
+
 A new plugin, jquery.flot.canvas.js, allows axis tick labels to be rendered
 directly to the canvas, rather than using HTML elements. This feature can be
 toggled with a simple option, making it easy to create interactive plots in the
diff --git a/jquery.flot.js b/jquery.flot.js
index 69e2f632..95f06e67 100644
--- a/jquery.flot.js
+++ b/jquery.flot.js
@@ -641,14 +641,14 @@ Licensed under the MIT license.
             $.extend(true, options, opts);
 
             if (options.xaxis.color == null)
-                options.xaxis.color = options.grid.color;
+                options.xaxis.color = $.color.parse(options.grid.color).scale('a', 0.22).toString();
             if (options.yaxis.color == null)
-                options.yaxis.color = options.grid.color;
+                options.yaxis.color = $.color.parse(options.grid.color).scale('a', 0.22).toString();
 
-            if (options.xaxis.tickColor == null) // backwards-compatibility
-                options.xaxis.tickColor = options.grid.tickColor;
-            if (options.yaxis.tickColor == null) // backwards-compatibility
-                options.yaxis.tickColor = options.grid.tickColor;
+            if (options.xaxis.tickColor == null) // grid.tickColor for back-compatibility
+                options.xaxis.tickColor = options.grid.tickColor || options.xaxis.color;
+            if (options.yaxis.tickColor == null) // grid.tickColor for back-compatibility
+                options.yaxis.tickColor = options.grid.tickColor || options.yaxis.color;
 
             if (options.grid.borderColor == null)
                 options.grid.borderColor = options.grid.color;
@@ -1849,7 +1849,6 @@ Licensed under the MIT license.
                 if (!axis.show || axis.ticks.length == 0)
                     continue;
 
-                ctx.strokeStyle = axis.options.tickColor || $.color.parse(axis.options.color).scale('a', 0.22).toString();
                 ctx.lineWidth = 1;
 
                 // find the edges
@@ -1870,6 +1869,7 @@ Licensed under the MIT license.
 
                 // draw tick bar
                 if (!axis.innermost) {
+                    ctx.strokeStyle = axis.options.color;
                     ctx.beginPath();
                     xoff = yoff = 0;
                     if (axis.direction == "x")
@@ -1888,6 +1888,9 @@ Licensed under the MIT license.
                 }
 
                 // draw ticks
+
+                ctx.strokeStyle = axis.options.tickColor;
+
                 ctx.beginPath();
                 for (i = 0; i < axis.ticks.length; ++i) {
                     var v = axis.ticks[i].v;