The business employs around 100 members of staff

On Friday, Carmarthenshire County Council confirmed it will help to bail out the attraction.

Council Chief Executive Mark James told BBC Wales that they were not looking at a long-term package but hoped it would be for more than a month.

"We could be looking at match-funding, certainly in terms of what the assembly has already made available. The garden is extremely important for Wales and Carmarthenshire."

The news follows a meeting of trustees on Thursday during which a rescue package began to emerge which would involve - among others - Carmarthenshire County Council and the Millennium Commission.

A meeting originally planned for Friday has been postponed to give the board time to consider all options.

Thursday's crisis meeting deferred a decision which could involve the prospect of putting the enterprise into administration.

The garden - opened in May 2000 by Prince Charles - has already had �1.4m of Welsh assembly money this year to ease its costs and fund a marketing drive.

A statement from Culture Minister Alan Pugh said: "Ourselves and the rest of the stakeholders have had very helpful discussions with the board of trustees. All the stakeholders are committed to working together to secure the long-term future of the garden.

"The board of trustees are currently considering all the options and we are awaiting the outcome of their decision."

The garden has failed to attract sufficient tourists

They would also decide whether or not to accept the offer of �150,000 which the Welsh Assembly Government has put on the table.

This would keep the garden operating for another month, but the trustees may be holding out for further assembly government funds to keep it running through the winter.

However, in a BBC Wales interview, Mr Pugh said there was no question of him issuing a "blank cheque".

But he reassured trustees that there was no question of them being held personally responsible if they accepted what was on offer and funds went to pay staff and meet bills.

Despite mounting pressure, the assembly government is still refusing to write off the West Wales horticultural project's debts.

On Wednesday Mr Heyward admitted there was a "50-50" chance that it could soon be in the hands of the administrators.

Rescue bid

It seems that the list of potential saviours for the site is diminishing, with both the National Trust and the UK Government insisting they are not involved in any rescue bid.

A spokesman for Welsh Secretary, Peter Hain, said that he was not aware of any effort being mounted by either the Welsh Secretary or other Whitehall departments to ease the garden's problems.

The National Trust in Wales has said it has not received a formal approach from the trustees of Middleton.

Chief Executive Iwan Huws said the trust would consider going into partnership with Middleton alongside others, but that no serious consideration was currently being given to the matter.

Meanwhile Middleton has said it will be opening its gates for free to visitors over the weekend.

They will have the option of making a voluntary donation to the atttraction on arrival.