This fall, the evergreen tree (needles, sort of bluish in color) in front of my house has been driving me crazy. It’s dropping tons of soft, yellowy, pod-like things and when people walk into the house, they track in this yellow pollen and it stains the carpets. First, what kind of tree does this, and second, is it on some kind of cycle? Will it stop dropping these things soon?
Without seeing the tree, my best guess is that it is a type of Cedrus, possibly Cedrus deodara or Cedrus atlantica. Since it is now October, what you are seeing is the shedding of male catkins or pollen cones. This is a seasonal phenomenon, so it will stop soon. Oregon State University’s Landscape Plants database has some pictures of the cones in fall. Meanwhile, you might want to have a shoes-off policy inside the house, which should cut down on the invasion of pollen.