diff --git a/holoviews/plotting/mpl/element.py b/holoviews/plotting/mpl/element.py
index 77f5a4f8da..d93187d8ea 100644
--- a/holoviews/plotting/mpl/element.py
+++ b/holoviews/plotting/mpl/element.py
@@ -558,8 +558,9 @@ def _apply_transforms(self, element, ranges, style):
                     % (k, v))
                 continue
 
-            if len(v.ops) == 0 and v.dimension in self.overlay_dims:
-                val = self.overlay_dims[v.dimension]
+            if v.dimension in self.overlay_dims:
+                ds = Dataset([self.overlay_dims[v.dimension]], v.dimension)
+                val = v.apply(ds, ranges=ranges, flat=True)[0]
             elif type(element) is Path:
                 val = np.concatenate([v.apply(el, ranges=ranges, flat=True)[:-1]
                                       for el in element.split()])