diff --git a/packages/python/plotly/plotly/express/_core.py b/packages/python/plotly/plotly/express/_core.py
index e94a79d3954..cc938318780 100644
--- a/packages/python/plotly/plotly/express/_core.py
+++ b/packages/python/plotly/plotly/express/_core.py
@@ -1012,6 +1012,7 @@ def build_dataframe(args, attrables, array_attrables):
 def _check_dataframe_all_leaves(df):
     df_sorted = df.sort_values(by=list(df.columns))
     null_mask = df_sorted.isnull()
+    df_sorted = df_sorted.astype(str)
     null_indices = np.nonzero(null_mask.any(axis=1).values)[0]
     for null_row_index in null_indices:
         row = null_mask.iloc[null_row_index]
@@ -1043,8 +1044,9 @@ def process_dataframe_hierarchy(args):
 
     if args["color"] and args["color"] in path:
         series_to_copy = df[args["color"]]
-        args["color"] = str(args["color"]) + "additional_col_for_px"
-        df[args["color"]] = series_to_copy
+        new_col_name = args["color"] + "additional_col_for_color"
+        path = [new_col_name if x == args["color"] else x for x in path]
+        df[new_col_name] = series_to_copy
     if args["hover_data"]:
         for col_name in args["hover_data"]:
             if col_name == args["color"]:
@@ -1147,6 +1149,11 @@ def aggfunc_continuous(x):
     args["ids"] = "id"
     args["names"] = "labels"
     args["parents"] = "parent"
+    if args["color"]:
+        if not args["hover_data"]:
+            args["hover_data"] = [args["color"]]
+        else:
+            args["hover_data"].append(args["color"])
     return args
 
 
diff --git a/packages/python/plotly/plotly/tests/test_core/test_px/test_px_functions.py b/packages/python/plotly/plotly/tests/test_core/test_px/test_px_functions.py
index 0393931af11..0fc38c94d4d 100644
--- a/packages/python/plotly/plotly/tests/test_core/test_px/test_px_functions.py
+++ b/packages/python/plotly/plotly/tests/test_core/test_px/test_px_functions.py
@@ -209,14 +209,22 @@ def test_sunburst_treemap_with_path_color():
     # Hover info
     df["hover"] = [el.lower() for el in vendors]
     fig = px.sunburst(df, path=path, color="calls", hover_data=["hover"])
-    custom = fig.data[0].customdata.ravel()
-    assert np.all(custom[:8] == df["hover"])
-    assert np.all(custom[8:] == "(?)")
+    custom = fig.data[0].customdata
+    assert np.all(custom[:8, 0] == df["hover"])
+    assert np.all(custom[8:, 0] == "(?)")
+    assert np.all(custom[:8, 1] == df["calls"])
 
     # Discrete color
     fig = px.sunburst(df, path=path, color="vendors")
     assert len(np.unique(fig.data[0].marker.colors)) == 9
 
+    # Numerical column in path
+    df["regions"] = df["regions"].map({"North": 1, "South": 2})
+    path = ["total", "regions", "sectors", "vendors"]
+    fig = px.sunburst(df, path=path, values="values", color="calls")
+    colors = fig.data[0].marker.colors
+    assert np.all(np.array(colors[:8]) == np.array(calls))
+
 
 def test_sunburst_treemap_with_path_non_rectangular():
     vendors = ["A", "B", "C", "D", None, "E", "F", "G", "H", None]