After designing her first landscape at eight years old, Sue Oda never wanted to do anything else. Since 1988, she has worked with hundreds of clients to create elegant, environmentally friendly outdoor living areas that complement the site's architecture.
Beginning her career in residential and commercial landscape design, Sue became a landscape architect with the City of Oakland where she created community gardens, playgrounds and other public spaces across the US, before returning to residential landscape architecture.Sue's approach to landscape design is distinguished by her signature grace, highly personal approach, and close attention to detail.
Licensed by the State of California and certified by the Council of Landscape Architectural Boards, Sue received her formal training at the University of California at Berkeley. She is the recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architecture Award and the Bakewell/Brown prize for artistic rendering of architectural elements.
Beginning her career in residential and commercial landscape design, Sue became a landscape architect with the City of Oakland where she created community gardens, playgrounds and other public spaces across the US, before returning to residential landscape architecture.Sue's approach to landscape design is distinguished by her signature grace, highly personal approach, and close attention to detail.
Licensed by the State of California and certified by the Council of Landscape Architectural Boards, Sue received her formal training at the University of California at Berkeley. She is the recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architecture Award and the Bakewell/Brown prize for artistic rendering of architectural elements.
Reviews (20)
Jeff P.
Apr 19, 2021
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We were attracted to the symmetry and color of Sue's landscapes. After hiring Sue, she was professional, responsive and thorough when designing our courtyard and low-maintenance home garden. We had several chances to give feedback during the process and ended up with solid schematics which our contractor had no trouble executing. Neighbors go out of their way now to compliment our new garden!
Alex N.
Feb 06, 2021
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Sue at first was pleasant to speak with. Sounded like she is good with plants. But than all went down hill. In middle of December the first draft on the project was due in two weeks. February 1st. Retainer paid. Absolutely nothing. Two weeks of call emails. Just ignored. Than was told that I should have texted and nothing is still ready. Plus I need to pay more money. Because supposedly she did put work in. But just never communicated and was just busy. Stay away
Alex Naumov
Jan 17, 2021
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Rg S.
Oct 10, 2018
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Lisa Polley BSc
Nov 20, 2017
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Working with Sue Oda was a pleasure every step of the way. She listened to our ideas, offered suggestions and came up with a plan drawn out in detail. Sue prepared a book of the plants she proposed incorporating in the landscape with instructions for care. She was sensitive to our concerns, flexible, punctual and thorough. She advised us of a wonderful contractor and came back and worked with us during the planting phase which proved to be very useful. I would highly recommend Sue Oda!
Frank Baltich
Oct 09, 2017
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Completely redid backyard landscaping to include new deck, block wall, pavers, louvered roof system, lighting, drainage, irrigation and plantings. Sue was very professional and reliable to work with. Multi-step process worked effectively from conceptual to final design. Offered good ideas but flexible to our needs and inputs. Very detailed design and construction drawings. Critical for the contractor. Promptly returned calls when I had followup questions. Very pleasant to work with.
J. A.
May 23, 2017
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Sue Oda designed a backyard landscape plan for us using pavers, drought tolerant and Native California plants, flagstone, lighting, and drip irrigation. We did not have a specific idea in mind but Sue was able to ask questions on what we desired and listened to concerns. We have a dog so we wanted a dog friendly landscape. Along with the landscaping plans Sue was able to come up with ideas for other things we could do. She knows how to tie together different plant varieties and the hardscape materials and make it flow. She has been very responsive to our questions and concerns, and her plans
Pops
May 22, 2017
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Casey C.
Oct 24, 2015
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Doctor G.
Aug 01, 2015
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Consulted with Sue about re-doing our yard. She was very professional, very personable, and seemed very knowledgeable. We decided that her ideas were more than we wanted to spend on our yard, so we didn't employ her services. However, if you are interested in a first class garden for your home, you really should give her a call. She was very responsive and easy to talk to. Really top notch landscape architect.
Christine G.
May 04, 2015
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Chris Y.
Dec 02, 2014
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I had the pleasure of meeting and consulting with Sue regarding landscape desires and creative options . She was very sweet and easy to communicate with. I welcomed her input as she offered some very useful ideas to incorporate along with my basic thoughts. I'm sure anyone would be pleased to consult with Sue as she would likely be able to design a wonderful landscape to one's desire or simply offer her knowledge and creative thoughts to assist in your desired project. She was professional and a pleasure to speak with.
Shiu K.
Oct 06, 2014
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We initially had trouble contacting Sue via her website, but once she learned of the problem she messaged me right away. Turns out there were some issues with her website and she didn't receive my message. She graciously offered us a complimentary garden evaluation, which was really nice of her!
During the evaluation, she taught us some landscaping concepts and gave us valuable feedback on our ideas. She was very patient even though we are totally unfamiliar with landscaping and had a lot of questions. She also taught us that we had sorely underestimated the cost of landscaping contractors
During the evaluation, she taught us some landscaping concepts and gave us valuable feedback on our ideas. She was very patient even though we are totally unfamiliar with landscaping and had a lot of questions. She also taught us that we had sorely underestimated the cost of landscaping contractors
Jesse L.
May 29, 2014
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Sadie L.
May 07, 2014
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Sue Oda is very knowledgeable in the landscape architecture and in all the native plants, and she is just the nicest person to talk to. She also gave us referrals to people who she knows that would do a good job to help us with other projects around the house. I would highly recommend her for your garden projects.
Barbara E.
Sep 07, 2013
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Sue Oda is fantastic! What a wonderful, knowledgeable landscape architect to work with--exactly the person I needed. I met her when she was offering free consulting at Westbrae Nursery in Berkeley which says a lot about her (and Westbrae Nursery).
I have 270 square feet in front of the house on a slope with dry, semi-shade. Not the easiest site. Because I don't have a big budget, I'd like to do the things I can and leave the things I can't to the professionals. Sue was willing to work with my limitations and produced a thoughtful and detailed plan with me on-site. It's
I have 270 square feet in front of the house on a slope with dry, semi-shade. Not the easiest site. Because I don't have a big budget, I'd like to do the things I can and leave the things I can't to the professionals. Sue was willing to work with my limitations and produced a thoughtful and detailed plan with me on-site. It's
Shauna S.
Aug 28, 2012
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I had the pleasure of working with Sue on our front yard landscape design. Sue was great at taking in the whole project, listening to what it was I wanted, and sitting down with me to come up with a design plan. I felt she did a wonderful job of listening to what I wanted and came up with suggestions for plants that would both be visually appealing and also be happy in the space allotted the plant. She was also very helpful answering questions regarding irrigation. Overall I had a wonderful experience with Sue and I would not hesitate to recommend her to a friend. I am so excited about getting
Joan M.
Apr 17, 2012
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Sue Odo worked closely with us to design a front yard which we were in need of. She listened to our likes and dislikes and came up with a beautiful design. She also reworked a feature from our old yard and gave it a fresh natural look. She was a pleasure to work with and wanted us to be satisfied with the design. She was helpful in suggesting flowers which might work better in some areas than others. It was enjoyable working with her and we were very satisfied with her design of our beautiful front yard and have had many compliments by strangers about it.
Joan M.
Joan M.
Mariko H.
Jul 24, 2011
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Sue truly takes the time to consider her clients needs and aesthetic wishes. She provides a very clear picture of what her ideas are and educates you on how to care for the landscape. Her fees are extremely reasonable and she brings an expertise as well as joy to her work. I highly recommend her services.
Sunny G.
Jun 08, 2009
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