How to Preserve Fresh Flower from Drying?

Use wettable floral foam, like this stuff:

http://www.amazon.com/GREEN-PKGD-FLORAL-FOAM-X3-7-X8-7/dp/B000XZU5S4

Also, I've heard that adding a crushed aspirin to the water will help cut flowers last longer.

http://www.gardenguides.com/110190-care-cut-flowers-vase.html

http://www.ehow.com/way_5764292_method-transportation-fresh-flowers.html

This stuff is light weight and holds moisture. If it is very hot where you live, you may want to consider purchasing a cooler with wheels on it, and laying this mixed with some ice in the bottom. Very hot temps will wilt your flowers whether the stems are moist or not. The common name is rock wool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_wool

Put the stems in carbonized water, lemonade works as well, it keeps plants alive many times longer than just water. PS don't use beer the plants start to misbehave with beer.

Bazzer

Two things might be of significant help. There is a commercial product on the market, available from most nurseries and some hardware stores. The name is "Floralife" follow the directions on the label to make a quart of liquid. To that liquid add 1 teaspoon of liquid Vitamin B1. Put a small piece of paper towel around the base of the bouquet and soak the paper in the liquid. Then, wrap the soaked paper in saran wrap to keep the liquid from drying out. The flowers that you are storing for sale should be soaking in the liquid until you are ready to put them out for sale.

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Saying before thinking leads to loneliness. Thinking before saying leads to success "R. Jeffrey"

Another thought

Whilst holidaying in Morocco, we met a guy selling lots and lots of roses, and helping the tourists keep their flowers going in their, relatively hot, rooms. ( If he helped the tourists keep their roses going, he got a second weeks buy from them, and the tourists would tend to pass the word on to the next folk.

His advice was:

1 Cut 1/2 " of of the stems and 1/4" off each subsequent day

2 Remove outer petals from each rose each day.

This seemed to work but it might have been a cure for that microclimate, it seems to work here in the UK although we probably are not as aggresive!

We have just bought some tulips, they collapsed immediately, we applied the cut stem thought and they jumped up straight away!

Sleepy

Whatever you do with the water I cannot help much as you have already got good advice, but to help you with the weight add a "foot" of say a broom handle that you can use to take most of the weight off your hands/shoulders.

Make the socket for the handle out of aluminum and if you have an old fishing pole made from carbon fiber cut a suitable piece out from it, it will make an even lighter foot than wood and is still VERY strong and stable.

That is what the old organ grinders of the 19th and early 20th Century used to do! (Not with carbon fiber!!)

I hope this helps further.......